Nurdle

Also known as mermaid tears, nurdles are the pre-production pellet form of plastic. They are typically are manufactured by large chemical companies from petroleum-based non-renewable resources. There is a growing bioplastics industry emerging but it has issues of it’s own, mainly that current versions of bioplastics do not biodegrade in the ocean.

Nurdles are typically shipped to plastic product manufacturers in rail cars or by truck. Some nurdles may be lost during transfer or spilled accidentally from damaged containers. Unless spilled nurdles are cleaned up they will be swept through the watershed by rain or dry-weather runoff to the nearest lake, bay or ocean.

The main issue with nurdles is that they can be mistaken for food by animals and consumed. A prime example is the striking resemblance of nurdles to fish eggs. Hydrophobic pollutants can collect on plastics such as nurdles and could potentially bioaccumulate up the food chain.