Scientists use their noodles to track pesky nurdles
A new study follows the havoc caused by these tiny plastic pellets that ended up in our oceans after a storm
In case you’ve never heard of a nurdle, you’re probably surrounded by millions of them right now: they’re the small plastic pellets (about the size of a single lentil) that make up nearly all our plastic products. Because of their moldability, billions upon billions are used across the world every year to manufacture plastic items.
Despite their convenience for our modern lifestyle, they are posing a major threat to the environment because many end up on our shores.
Once in the ocean they are highly buoyant, float on the surface, and come under the direct influence of wind, waves and ocean currents. This – and their environmental persistence – mean that they are distributed widely in the world’s oceans and deposited on beaches even in remote locations...