What are Nurdles?
A nurdle is a plastic pellet that serves as raw material in the manufacturing of plastic products. Nurdles are a major source of pollution - billions wash up on beaches, riverbanks, and lake shorelines every year.
Nurdles often enter waterways through accidental spills at factories, during shipping, or from poorly managed waste systems. Their tiny size makes them hard to clean up. Once in the water, ocean currents carry them across the globe, where they eventually wash up on shorelines.
Environmental Impact
Nurdles pose a serious threat to marine life and ecosystems:
- Wildlife ingestion: Fish, birds, and sea turtles mistake nurdles for food
- Toxic chemicals: Nurdles absorb harmful pollutants from the water
- Food chain contamination: Toxins move up the food chain to larger animals—and potentially humans
The Nurdle Patrol
To keep track of this threat, Mountain Watershed Association and Three Rivers Waterkeeper (3RWK) conduct a regular patrol on the Ohio River in Beaver County.
MWA started the patrol in 2020 and partnered with 3RWK in 2021. Once a month, we float the Ohio River, pulling a trawl that captures debris bobbing on top of the water. Then we pick through the debris, collect the nurdles, and crunch the numbers.
We also monitor riverbank nurdle spills, using an adapted protocol from nurdlepatrol.org.
Our monthly floats have found pellets in the Ohio River and on its banks. To put an end to the this problem, it needs to be addressed by governments and large corporations. We hope our data collection helps to move the needle on regulation.
Holding Polluters Accountable
On monthly nurdle patrols along the Ohio River next to Raccoon Creek, 3RWK and MWA observed an excess of nurdles in the Ohio River. We traced the nurdles back to Styropek's main outfall (002) along Raccoon Creek, a major tributary to the Ohio River.
We reported this alleged illegal discharge of solid materials to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
In December of 2022, the PA DEP did a visual inspection at several of Styropek's outfalls and identified nurdles near Outfall 002. A year later, PennEnvironment and 3RWK filed a federal lawsuit against BVPV Styrenics LLC and its parent company, Styropek USA, Inc.
In 2025 3RWK and PennEnvironment won the case, reaching a settlement to reduce plastic pollution, set precedent for other facilities, and provide over $2 million for restoration in the Ohio River watershed.
Start your own nurdle patrol!
Watch this video to learn how to do your own nurdle patrol in our unique river ecosystem! Submit your data here!