Plastic pellets called “nurdles” pollute beaches and waterways

A snapshot of “nurdles” collected from the shores of Galveston, Texas, shows the condition of these plastics as they decompose in the marine environment. Nurdles, the diminutive plastic beads that are the building blocks of almost all plastic products, are polluting beaches and waterways across the country. (Photo courtesy of Turtle Island Restoration Network)

SEADRIFT, Texas – Aboard an aluminum boat or one of her five kayaks, fourth-generation shrimper and fisherman Diane Wilson often travels the coastal bays and creeks near her miniature hometown of Seadrift, Texas.

But instead of fishing for shrimp, black drum or blue crabs, the 77-year-old is now an environmental activist searching for “nurdles” – diminutive plastic pellets that pollute beaches and waterways in Texas and across the country.

The diminutive beads, typically less than 5 millimeters in diameter, are the basic building blocks of almost all plastic products. However, if mishandled during manufacturing or transportation, they can travel through storm drains and into bodies of water, posing a health hazard to wildlife and humans. They are hard to neat and behave like Sponges for toxins as they move through the food chain.

An estimate 445,970 tons of pasta ends up in the oceans every year.

“They’re everywhere,” said Wilson, who is now executive director of San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper, an environmental group focused on protecting Matagorda Bay on the Texas Gulf Coast. “They pose a real threat to human health and the planet, and we are trying to protect the communities, the fishermen and the bays.”

California enacted a law is intended to curb environmental pollution in 2007. Now the issue is gaining attention elsewhere: In 2025, the legislature will step in Illinois, New Jersey And Virginia Bills introduced.

But the threat of pollution is beginning to resonate beyond such left-leaning states. In Wilson’s deeply conservative Texas, a coalition of environmentalists, fishermen, business leaders and local officials are pushing for greater regulation of pellets, arguing that pellets pose an economic threat to coastal communities.

State Rep. Erin Zwiener, a Democrat from the Austin-area town of Dripping Springs, said in an interview that even some in the plastics industry “want to see a solution to this problem.” Zwiener introduced Nurdle bills during the last two legislative sessions and plans to do so again when the Legislature reconvenes in 2027.

“I think some industry representatives know how blue-eyed this is and would like to see some curtailment of the worst actors,” Zwiener said.

The plastics industry has long recognized that many plastics end up in the environment. In 1991, a voluntary program called “ Operation Clean Sweepin which participating companies that handle pasta commit to certain practices to prevent spills.

Charlotte Dreizen, who leads Operation Clean Sweep for the Plastics Industry Association, said more than two-thirds of U.S. plastics production occurs at a participating facility.

But Wilson and other critics say the program does not include meaningful reporting requirements, oversight or consequences.

“They’re just sloppy and they can do better, but no one’s forcing them to do it,” Wilson said. “They obviously have to be forced into it.”

In 2019, Wilson was a victorious co-plaintiff in a lawsuit that resulted in this a record $50 million in severance pay against Formosa Plastics, a petrochemical manufacturer that illegally dumped billions of pasta and other pollutants into Lavaca Bay and other Texas waterways. It was the largest settlement ever in a Clean Water Act lawsuit filed by private individuals. Instead of being awarded to the plaintiffs, the money went into a fund to finance projects to reverse pollution in the affected waterways.

Now Wilson is preparing for another lawsuit: in December she will filed a 60-day legal notice of intent to sue the Dow Chemical Company, accusing it of illegally dumping plastic pellets from its plant near Seadrift.

Part of a larger problem

Nurdles are a type of Microplastic pollutionbut not all microplastics are child’s play. Microplastics also include microspheres used as exfoliants in cosmetics and toothpaste, as well as diminutive particles from shredded plastic waste, packaging and synthetic fibers. Some are so miniature that you cannot see them without a microscope.

Microplastics have been discovered in cities Tap waterIn Bottled waterin rivers and throughout Great lakes. Scientists estimate that adults consume the equivalent one credit card per week in microplastics, and studies of animals and human cells suggest they may be linked to cancer, heart attacks, reproductive problems and other harm.

Nurdles are larger than many other microplastics. They are evident to the naked eye and are easier to identify and collect due to their uniform shape and size. Volunteers helped out last spring almost 50,000 plastic pellets over 11 days at more than 200 locations in 14 countries, 29 US states and Washington, DC

Locations in Texas, mostly on the coast, recorded the highest number: 23,115 noodles. California (4,167), Michigan (3,681), South Carolina (3,094) and Ohio (2,851) also reported significant amounts.

In the Upper Midwest, environmentalists are pushing for pellet control legislation to protect the five Great Lakes, which together serve as economic engines for eight states.

“I think there are concerns across the board about whether we can prevent this from having a devastating impact on our regions,” said Andrea Densham, senior policy adviser at the Alliance for the Great Lakes.

On the West Coast, the noodles washed onto Oregon’s coast from the Pacific Ocean can be so numerous that “it looks like pellets have become part of the sand,” said Celeste Meiffren-Swango, director of Environment Oregon. “More and more pellets end up in the environment and are not removed from the environment.”

A question of economics

In Texas, where there are at least 36 plastics manufacturing plants, Zwiener’s bill — which failed in committee — would have classified pasta as non-hazardous industrial waste, triggering recordkeeping and containment requirements. Plastics companies would also have had to monitor surrounding waterways and conduct monthly spill checks.

During a hearing on the legislation in 2025, Logan Harrell of the Texas Chemistry Council told lawmakers that “the industry is already voluntarily addressing the issue” by improving its response to spills and doing more to prevent them. The bill “would result in overregulation and likely create complications due to ambiguous language and other burdensome requirements,” Harrell said.

Although Zwiener’s bill And an accompanying invoice While the state Senate failed to make progress, advocates say sentiment could be changing as more plastic pellets appear on Texas beaches.

In October, organizations representing recreational fishermen, oyster fishermen, tourism groups and others dispatched a letter to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, urging him to direct the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to adopt standards to prevent noodle discharges into waterways as part of a planned overhaul of water quality standards.

The letter emphasizes the potential economic impact of pollution, noting that the state’s outdoor recreation industry supports nearly 300,000 jobs and $14 billion in wages, adding a total value of $31 billion to the Texas economy.

The agency considered banning plastic discharges in its last rule revision in 2022, but He reportedly backed away under pressure from the industry. Abbott’s office and the agency declined to comment on the letter.

No city in Texas relies more on neat beaches than Galveston, a coastal city of more than 53,000 residents that attracts up to 8 million visitors each year. In October, the city council unanimously approved the proposal a resolution following the letter sent by fishing and tourism associations to the Governor of Texas.

“It’s been a problem in the long term,” said Joanie Steinhaus, marine program manager at the Galveston office of the Turtle Island Restoration Network, a California-based nonprofit that advocates for oceans and marine wildlife. The group sponsors regular nurdle patrols on Galveston’s beaches, and Steinhaus said volunteers have collected more than 17,000 nurdles in the last five years.

Recently, anti-nurdle efforts received a boost from JP Bryan, a prominent Texas oilman and historic preservationist who founded the Bryan Museum in Galveston. Bryan wrote a widely published editorial on the Dallas Morning News, in which he shared his childhood memories of the beaches of Freeport, Texas, and called for action to curb ocean pollution.

“For Texans who value both economic growth and environmental protection, combating the scourge of plastic bottles is not only an environmental but also an economic imperative,” Bryan wrote.

“This problem needs to be solved, ideally by those causing the problem,” Bryan continued, “but if it is not, good government can and should prevent companies from causing economic and environmental damage through plastic pellet spills.”