GALVESTON, Texas – Nurdles, small plastic pellets, are a growing problem polluting beaches across Texas, including Galveston Island.
To combat this, environmental groups are holding a beach cleanup this week.
Nurdles are pre-production plastics used to create numerous household items.
“Nurdles, powders, and flakes are what plastic products are made out of. In Texas, we have 36 production facilities, and three of them are located on Galveston Bay. Unfortunately, they’re very lightweight, and there’s discharge at the sites,” said Joanie Steinhaus, program director for the Turtle Island Restoration Network, a nonprofit focused on protecting and restoring oceans and coasts.
Steinhaus said nurdles can escape into the environment during manufacturing or transportation.
“If they’re in the water, any chemicals in the water adhere to them. Wildlife ingests them. And they can become a problem for humans. If we eat seafood that has eaten nurdles, we’re not eating the nurdles, but we could be eating the chemicals that the flesh of the fish absorbed,” Steinhaus said.
A major concern is that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality currently has no regulations on nurdles.
“We’ve been working in the legislative session to get bills passed, and we’re currently trying to get nurdles included in surface water quality standards so there’s some regulation,” Steinhaus added.
Officials in Galveston raised the issue during a city council meeting on Oct. 23.
District 3 Councilman Bob Brown said they are calling on the governor’s office and the TCEQ to tighten regulations and monitor the problem.
“If we had better regulation, better monitoring, better reporting of where all these things are and what’s happening to them, we could minimize the amount of nurdle pollution on the beach. It looks like food to a lot of our wildlife — birds, fish, turtles — and it’s really, really bad for all of that,” Brown said.
If you would like to take part in the beach cleanup this Friday, you can meet several environmental groups near Murdoch’s at 2215 Seawall Blvd.
The cleanup will take place between 9:30 a.m and 11:30 a.m.
You will not only help clean up the beach but also learn more about nurdles and their impact on the environment.