“Nurdles are ubiquitous in the marine environment and pose an enormous threat to aquatic life. As a member of the Ocean Protection Council, I will advocate for increased controls on the release of nurdles to our marine environment.”
— Lt. Gov. John Garamendi
The Legislation - Getting Over the Nurdle Hurdle
AB 258 (Krekorian) will promote zero discharge of nurdles from industrial facilities by requiring the implementation of best management practices to control against the release of nurdles into the environment, a solution specifically called for by the Ocean Protection Council.
AB 258 is sponsored by Heal the Bay.
The Problem
Industrial discharge of pre-production plastic pellets and resin materials, commonly called “nurdles,” originates from inland urban areas when released during the transport, packaging, and processing of plastics. These materials eventually migrate to coastal waterways and beaches.
Nurdles, plastic powders and production scrap, all of which are mistaken as food by marine life, are a significant source of ocean pollution.
Nurdles are not currently retained by most trash capture devices due to the small size of the pellets (e.g. to avoid flooding problems, most storm drain screen grates cannot sieve pellets from storm drain flow).
Approximately 60 billion pounds of nurdles are manufactured annually in the United States alone.
One pound of pelletized HDPE contains approximately 22,000 nurdles.
The plastics industry even finds that release of nurdles into the natural environment is a problem.
Voluntary Solutions Do Not Work
Voluntary programs implementing best management practices to eliminate the release of nurdles into the natural environment have failed. This failure is likely due to the absence of a regulatory system that will ensure enforcement against the release of these materials into the natural environment.
Best management practices to control against the release of pre-production plastic resin and pellets into the natural environment must be regulatorily required for the production, and transport and storage of these materials, with associated enforcement penalties.
Marine Impacts
Nurdles comprised roughly 98% of the beach debris collected in a 2001 Orange County study.
Green, loggerhead, and hawksbill sea turtles, sheerwaters, northern fulmars, petrels, flounder, lobster, and likely many more aquatic species have ingested nurdles.
Nurdles can carry two types of micropollutants in the marine environment - toxic plastic additives and pollutants attracted to nurdles from the ambient seawater. For example, concentrations of PCBs and DDE on nurdles collected from Japanese coastal waters were found to be up to 1 million times higher than the levels detected in surrounding seawater.
The presence of these preproduction plastics is not unique to U.S. beaches and waters; studies have shown an international proliferation of nurdles in the marine environment.