A large number of small plastic pellets, known as nurdles, are pictured on a pebble beach close to the water's edge

Nurdles

Nurdles are small plastic pellets used to make many everyday plastic products. They may be tiny, but when they escape from factories, transport routes or ships, they can spill in their millions and spread quickly through rivers, beaches and seas.

What are nurdles?

Nurdles are pre-production plastic pellets, usually less than 5mm across and can also be known as mermaid's tears and plastic pellets. They're sometimes confused with biobeads which are used in water filtration systems, which are a different source of microplastic pollution.  

Nurdles are referred to as a primary microplastic as they start life as a small plastic pellet. Secondary microplastics come from other plastic products such as bottles, ropes and clothes that have broken down over time into smaller plastic fragments.  

Nurdles are melted down and moulded into many different plastic items, ranging from packaging and bottles to car parts and household goods.

Why are nurdles a problem? 

Once nurdles enter the environment, they're extremely difficult to recover. 

Marine animals can mistake nurdles for food. If eaten, they can cause harm through ingestion and may also carry pollutants that attach to their surface in the marine environment. Like other plastics, nurdles do not simply disappear — they break down into smaller pieces, adding to the growing microplastic burden in our ocean. 

How do nurdles reach the sea?

Nurdles can be lost at many points in the plastic supply chain — during production, handling, transport and manufacturing. Spillages on land can be carried through drains and waterways, while losses at sea can disperse rapidly across wide areas of coastline as we saw with the terrible Tyneside spill in August 2026.

What needs to change? 

Cleaning up nurdles after a spill is slow, difficult and never complete. The best solution is to stop pellet loss at source. We need stronger prevention across the plastics industry, clearer responsibility for spills, rapid response plans when incidents happen, and robust monitoring so nurdles do not become an invisible, ongoing source of pollution.

In a small test tube being held up by a hand, there are hundreds of tiny plastic pellets known as nurdles.

Image credit: Catherine Gemmell

How you can help 

Look out for nurdles when you visit the coast — they're often small, round and lentil-sized. If you're taking part in Beachwatch, you can record your finds on our survey form and this data also gets shared with our friends at Fidra.

a beach cleanup

Take part in a beach clean

Find a clean near you

You can also report your findings when you're not taking part in Beachwatch direct on the Fidra website by taking part in the Great Nurdle Hunt.  

By recording and reporting nurdles when you find them you provide the vital evidence we need to call for change and stop nurdles getting spilled in the first place.

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