17. What are nurdles and how can we help? -- with Jace Tunnell

We certainly weren't aware of the environmental dangers of
nurdles, in fact we didn't even know what nurdles were until we
visited with Jace Tunnell, the Director of the Mission-Aransas
National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) at the University of
Texas Marine Science Institute in Port Aransas, Texas. What Jace
and his team of volunteers are doing to clean up our beaches and
waterways and make sure that our marine life has a safe, clean
place to live and thrive is inspiring!


What ARE nurdles? Nurdles are small plastic pellets and the basis
for everything that’s made out of plastic. Because they’re so
small and lightweight, many of them don't even make it to plastic
manufacturing plants. They get swept away by wind and rain and
make it into our waterways where they negatively impact wildlife
(birds, fish, turtles, etc.) and absorb harmful chemicals.


Nurdle Patrol (https://nurdlepatrol.org/Forms/Home/) was created
in 2018 when there was a spill of plastic pellets that was
showing up on the beach along the Gulf of Mexico. Jace and his
team quickly realized that state agencies didn’t have the
resources to clean up these nurdles or monitor the spread of
plastic pellet contamination. So they started asking volunteers
to take samples when they were at the beach and began mapping the
concentrations of these pellets. Nurdle Patrol has been expanding
ever since.


Jace describes how easy it is to collect nurdles and help Nurdle
Patrol add more data to their concentration map. Nurdle Patrol
has also created a platform that makes it super easy and
user-friendly to upload your data and information. Go to the
Nurdle Patrol website to get involved! They’ve created all the
tools necessary to learn how to do a survey and enter your data.
They also list specific ways you can help on their Solutions page
(https://nurdlepatrol.org/Forms/Solution/index.php).


In this week's bonus episode, Jace gives us a sneak peek into the
Nurdle Patrol startup kit that organizations receive to help them
collect and monitor nurdles on a regular basis.





Additional links:


- Microplastic & Nurdle Literature on UT Marine Science
Institute website:
https://utmsi.utexas.edu/blog/entry/microplastic-nurdle-literature


- The Great Nurdle Hunt: https://www.nurdlehunt.org.uk/





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