Nurdles are not an accident of nature; they are an industrial product spilling into our environment that can be controlled by man. Monitoring their spread doesn’t prevent harm, zero discharge and regulations do.
My name is Brittany McWhorter. I am a resident of Galveston, Texas, and I earned a B.S. and M.S. from Texas A&M University at Galveston in Marine Biology. I currently serve as the Gulf Environmental Program Coordinator with Turtle Island Restoration Network (TIRN). As a lifelong resident along the Texas Gulf Coast, I have experienced, witnessed, and studied the devastating environmental impacts that plastic has on surrounding environments and wildlife. As a Texas resident, a marine scientist, and someone who is concerned about the health and safety of the environment, we need stronger nurdle regulations. Once large plastic items enter the environment, it is difficult to respond to their degradation, but for these primary microplastics, there is no excuse. Zero discharge is expected from manufacturing facilities and should be strongly enforced. We should be controlling what we can for the health of the environment, wildlife, and people. As someone who has been participating in and leading beach cleanups, I have witnessed the increase of nurdle pollution on our beaches, from a total of 2,356 collected and removed in 2021 to 7,672 removed in 2025, with 21 and 26 nurdle patrols conducted in 2021 and 2025 respectively with volunteers of TIRN.
Environmentalists and scientists across the globe agree that microplastics, plastics 5mm or smaller in size, are a pervasive environmental pollutant impacting not only wildlife, but also entire trophic levels, including higher predators like humans. Researchers predict that 445,970 metric tons of nurdles make their way into oceans annually.
The two types of microplastics, primary and secondary, have been documented in every kind of environment, from rivers and streams to the deep sea and high mountain tops, but there is one major distinction between these two types of microplastics. Secondary microplastics form from the breakdown of larger plastic items such as rubber tires, clothing, and bottles, and are typically categorized as microfibers, films, fragments, and foams. Primary microplastics, on the other hand, have been intentionally manufactured to be small and used for the creation of larger plastic products. Primary microplastics include microbeads used in exfoliants and nurdles or pellets, which can also be manufactured in the form of powders and flakes. Plastic pellets, powders, and flakes are melted into molds to create nearly all manufactured plastic products, including items like water bottles, grocery bags, food containers, and packaging. Unlike secondary microplastics, nurdles are intentionally manufactured small, making their release entirely preventable.
In David Montgomery’s article in the Houston Chronicle titled “Plastic pellets pollute beaches, streams” he highlights the extensive efforts undertaken by organizations across Texas that are collecting and documenting nurdle pollution throughout Texas waterways and shorelines. This includes organizations such as the San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper, founded by Diane Wilson, a Texas native who has dedicated her life to collecting and documenting nurdle pollution. It also includes our organization, Turtle Island Restoration Network, which conducts nurdle patrols in Galveston, Texas, at all of our beach cleanups. In the spring, volunteers from both organizations and around the United States removed nearly 50,000 nurdles over 11 days across 14 countries and 29 states. Among these states, Texas sites accounted for the highest number of nurdles collected, 23,115 nurdles, which is not surprising considering Texas represents the leading state for plastic feedstock production, with at least 36 plastic production plants, almost half of them located in Harris County (17 facilities). This effort highlights the global issue of nurdles, but many of these groups, including TIRN, report nurdle pollution monthly in the thousands. In June 2025, 1,152 nurdles were removed from Galveston beaches, and in July 2025, TIRN volunteers removed 1,594 nurdles. The total number of nurdles removed in 2025 by this TIRN was 7,672.
For environmental groups like TIRN, which focuses on improving the health and safety of marine wildlife, including endangered marine species, the impacts of nurdles on marine life are significant. Nurdles, which are made from fossil fuels, contain a variety of harmful chemicals that not only leach into the environment but also into the animals that consume them. While nurdles are in the environment, they have the potential to become even more hazardous by concentrating other chemicals onto their surface, including persistent organic pollutants and biofilms, which can include harmful microorganisms and bacteria such as E. coli and Vibrio species. As animals consume these nurdles, often mistaking them for food, they are exposed to these harmful chemicals and biofilms. These chemicals can bioaccumulate within their bodies over the course of their lifespans and biomagnify across trophic levels, increasing up the food chain. This also impacts humans who eat fish and other marine wildlife that have been exposed to nurdles. More than 100,000 marine mammals and over one million seabirds are killed annually by plastic pollution, and nurdles are part of this statistic, with over 220 species of marine animals reported to ingest them. Nurdles can lead to intestinal blockages, malnutrition, and, in some cases, death.
The article by David Montgomery highlights the need for more pressure and accountability to be placed on these manufacturing facilities to respond to spills in an effective and timely manner, and the need for greater monitoring and cleanup efforts to reduce the cleanup burden placed on communities and shift responsibility for this environmental pollutant back to the companies responsible. Shifting responsibility would also reduce negative impacts on marine wildlife. In a world shaped by industrial impacts, we must control what we can. Addressing nurdles is one clear place to start, beginning with updating TCEQ’s surface water standards to include these toxic plastics.
