NURDLE PATROL
Coastal Cleanups - Take action in your local community by participating in a coastal cleanup near you!
Green Scholars - Our award-winning project-based learning curriculum is built on the foundations of project management, leadership, and sustainability. Students undertake a hands-on project with real-world outcomes that directly benefit schools, districts and/or communities.
Green Scholars - Our award-winning project-based learning curriculum is built on the foundations of project management, leadership, and sustainability. Students undertake a hands-on project with real-world outcomes that directly benefit schools, districts and/or communities.
Join Us In Protecting Our Oceans!
Time: All Cleanups are 9-11 AM EST
Waivers & Registration: To attend a Cleanup, please sign up here which includes the waiver
Weather: If the forecast calls for inclement weather, we will postpone
What to Bring: Appropriate clothes for being on the coast, hat, sunscreen, water, snack, thin gloves optional, hand sanitizer, and a friend or two! We supply everything we’ll need for the cleanups
Questions & Communication: An email will be sent to all registered participants a day or two before the event. Please contact us info@seasidesustainability.org, 978.381.3302
Meeting Points, Parking & Bathrooms: We will send all registrants specific logistics for each location prior to the event. If possible, try and carpool
Understanding the Impacts of Nurdles in the Marine Environment
What are Nurdles?
Nurdle may sound like a funny word, but they are no laughing matter. Nurdles are generally defined as “small plastic pellets which serve as raw material in the production of plastic products.” They are generally 5mm or less in size and are the building blocks for most plastic products. Due to their small size, ability to float, and their weight, they are becoming an increasingly more common form of plastic pollution. Nurdles are melted down and made into many plastic items, from clothes to water bottles, grocery bags to artificial Christmas trees.
Where do Nurdles come from?
Nurdles are produced by industrial facilities and are transported to manufacturers by trucks, rails, and shipping containers. Leaks into the environment can happen anytime during the transportation process through accidental spills, damaged packaging, and container loss. Nurdles that are spilt on land will end up floating down storm drains and ultimately, out to sea. Currents and wind disperse them throughout the waters and they will end up on our beaches, riverbanks, and lake shorelines by the millions.
Sea Level Rise
Sea levels are rising due to increasingly warmer annual temperatures causing glaciers and ice caps to melt at faster rates than ever before. Come join the Seaside in our efforts to monitor sea level rise in Cape Ann using marking flags, meter sticks, and spotting scopes. Teaching about sea level rise, storm surge, and the tides, both seasonal tide changes and our extreme king tides, are all part of our mission.
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What's so special about this activity?
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Measuring sea level rise is a fantastic learning exercise to visually understand the effects of environmental changes. Learning about changes in sea level and the impact of storm surges facing our coasts is paramount to the future of our cities. By understanding these changes, we can effectively plan for our future with the necessary criteria in mind.
Microplastics in Sand
Microplastics are plastic materials smaller than 5mm in length and are often not easily visible to the human eye. They have been found in our food, water, and air. The source of microplastic is the breakdown of macroplastics and the nurdles used to create these macroplastic items. Areas with large amounts of microplastics may be directly correlated to macroplastic accumulation areas on our beaches impacted by weather winds and currents.
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What's so special about this activity?
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This provides a hands-on learning environment! We carefully determine the amount of plastic contamination by measuring the amount of microplastics present in the beach sand. We utilize high quality sieves of multiple sizes to sift through the sand; these sieves are extremely effective at separating out microplastics, which you'll be able to see for yourself!
With our experience and tools, we can easily teach our volunteers how to carry out these beach surveys and directly contribute to removing harmful plastics from our waterways.
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Microplastics in Sand
Microplastics are plastic materials smaller than 5mm in length and are often not easily visible to the human eye. They have been found in our food, water, and air. The source of microplastic is the breakdown of macroplastics and the nurdles used to create these macroplastic items. Areas with large amounts of microplastics may be directly correlated to macroplastic accumulation areas on our beaches impacted by weather winds and currents.
​​
What's so special about this activity?
​
This provides a hands-on learning environment! We carefully determine the amount of plastic contamination by measuring the amount of microplastics present in the beach sand. We utilize high quality sieves of multiple sizes to sift through the sand; these sieves are extremely effective at separating out microplastics, which you'll be able to see for yourself!
With our experience and tools, we can easily teach our volunteers how to carry out these beach surveys and directly contribute to removing harmful plastics from our waterways.
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Nurdle Impacts on Wildlife
Nurdles can easily be mistaken for food by wildlife. Plastics can also become trapped in an animal's stomach making them feel full and stopping them eating real food. This can lead to starvation, ulceration, organ damage and even death.
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When ingested by different animals along the food chain, the pollutants from nurdles build up in the system, known as bioaccumulation, increasing with each higher-order animal. As the levels of toxins accumulate, they become more concentrated and more deadly, causing health issues for large animals like marine mammals, sea birds, and humans.
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Nurdles may also have indirect effects on ecosystems. Microplastics can change the characteristics of sand, such as its temperature, which can affect animals like sea turtles that incubate their eggs on beaches.
Why are Nurdles Important?
Nurdles significantly contribute to global carbon emissions as they are made from fossil fuels and other harmful chemicals. Once in the environment, nurdles are extremely difficult to clean up. There is no practical way of removing all nurdles from the environment. This is why we need to stop nurdle pollution at its source, before they spill.
Seaside's Call to Action
Seaside Sustainability is collaborating with the Nurdle Patrol project to conduct nurdle surveys at Cape Ann beaches and waterfront locations. Our Marine Science and Technology team, consisting of interns and volunteers, are collecting data and submitting nurdle counts to NurdlePatrol.org. Nurdle Patrol emphasizes that even 10 minutes collecting nurdles can make a huge difference. Interns and volunteers are currently collecting data from Cripple Cove in Gloucester. This data is uploaded and used to provide critical data necessary for understanding and combating microplastic pollution in our vital ecosystems.
Sources:
Deemer, A. (2023, October 16). What are nurdles? Environment America. Retrieved August 28, 2024, from https://environmentamerica.org/pennsylvania/articles/what-are-nurdles/
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Nurdle Patrol. (n.d.). https://www.nurdlepatrol.org/app/
Date | Location | Time spent collecting (minutes) | Volunteers | Nurdles Collected |
|---|---|---|---|---|
09/03/2024 | Cripple Cove | 25 | 2 | 424 |
09/09/2024 | Cripple Cove | 20 | 3 | 1150 |
09/17/2024 | Cripple Cove | 20 | 8 | 1141 |
Total Nurdles Collected to date: 2,715
Seaside's Data Collection
Date | Location | Time spent collecting (minutes) | Volunteers | Nurdles Collected |
|---|---|---|---|---|
09/03/2024 | Cripple Cove | 25 | 2 | 424 |
09/09/2024 | Cripple Cove | 20 | 3 | 1150 |
09/17/2024 | Cripple Cove | 20 | 8 | 1141 |