MARCH 2 2014

VOL 1 ISSUE 1

Life of a Nurdle
What are Nurdles?
Plastic resin beads, nurdles, are the building blocks of plastics, and are used to create virtually all of our plastic products. Nurdles are small beads that are, most of the time, transparent, and easily identifiable. These beads are melted down into our products, which eventually end up either recycled or disposed of, and a large amount of them end up in areas that cause damage to the environment. These beads are usually mistaken as food for some animals, and are found within stomachs of dead animals.

Where Do Nurdles Go?

Since these beads make up all plastic products in some way, they follow much of the same path and are found everywhere. The Sierra Club gave a story called Message in a Bottle, by David Ferris, which describes, in detail, the life of a bead. These beads start in their bead form, and either get made into a product, or are accidentally washed into the ocean, skipping straight into the last phase of life. If they are turned into a product, they become any plastic object we use until disposal. In this disposal phase, they are either recycled or placed into the ocean by being washed away. When they are recycled, the melting of these plastics into their malleable form produces toxic gases that move into the air and dont dissipate. The recycling process is used to make a new product, but still contains the bent and shaped form of the bead, but is only prolonging its depart into the ocean. When the product, or bead, is washed into the ocean, it collects toxins from its surrounding water. In Tokyo Bay, a toxicologist, Hideshige Takada, noted nurdles and other plastics suck up toxins like sponges. They hold concentrations up to a million times greater than the surrounding water. These products float, and are exposed to the sun, which makes them brittle and the constant contact with the water breaks them into shards. These shards are mistaken as food by many aquatic animals and can be eaten, where they easily move into the bloodstream and can pass up the food web. Lastly, these beads and shards are found on beaches, either in the sands or in dead animals that have washed onto the shores.

What Does This Do to the Environment?

At first sight, this may make plastics seem as though they should be completely banned from use, but there is a way to control the effect that they have, while still allowing them to be used. Without proper precaution, these beads can create toxic materials that appear as food to some animals and can kill them when too much is consumed. These can also create a harmful environment within the oceans waters so that being in the water is unsafe. A process that could prevent this from occurring could be mechanical recycling. This is where products are turned into flakes in material recovery facilities, which are then sent to plastic product facilities that use them to create new products for use and resale. Another process that could prove as a solution to this issue is by feedstock recycling. This is where the plastics are melted down to obtain the smaller molecules from the oil produced. This can be used to send the smaller molecules to production facilities to create new products. Lastly, there is also the process of source reduction. This means to control the amount of waste that is produced by changing the production style. This is achieved by redesigning, using partial substitutes, or using an alternative material entirely.

References: Ferris, David. "Message in a Bottle."Sierra Club. Sierra Club, n.d. Web. 2 Mar. 2014. <http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/200905/message2.aspx>. "Lifecycle of a Plastic Product." Lifecycle of a Plastic Product. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Mar. 2014. <http://plastics.americanchemistry.com/Education-Resources/Plastics101/Lifecycle-of-a-Plastic-Product.html>.