The UK is undertaking to clean up a layer of plastic pellets, known as nurdles, that spilled into the ocean following the North Sea shipping accident between Portuguese registered container ship Solong and U.S. registered oil tanker Stena Immaculate. Nurdles are lentil-sized pellets from which plastic products are made. They can be fatal to sea life.
When animals eat them, the animal feels full despite receiving no nutrients, so they can starve to death.
Nurdles are the building blocks of the plastics industry. It takes 600 to make a plastic bottle, according to Flora & Fauna. Their small size and weight mean they are easy to transport, but very difficult to retrieve when they spill into the marine environment. It is estimated that 11.5 trillion nurdles end up in the ocean every year.
Nurdles are often shipped across the ocean in large containers. Pellets can leak out of damaged packaging and containers on board ships, as well as being spilled in large quantities in disaster situations. In 2021, 1,680 tonnes of nurdles spilled into the ocean following the X-Press pearl shipwreck.
Lloyd’s List reported in January of 2025 that the International Maritime Organization (IMO) is mulling regulations for transport of nurdles which have not been considered a hazardous material despite their risks to ocean ecosystems.
