The nurdles’ quest for ocean domination
Posted on February 22, 2015 by DrRossH in Plastic & WildlifeThe nurdles’ quest for ocean domination – Kim Preshoff | TED-Ed.
Nurdles are the tiny, factory-made pellets that form the raw material for every plastic product that we use, from toys to toothbrushes. And while they look pretty harmless on land, they can really wreak havoc on our oceans. Kim Preshoff details the nurdles’quest for ocean domination, shedding light on the particular features that allow these pervasive polluters to persist for entire generations.
This should compulsory watching for any one working in the plastics manufacturing industry. It is akin to global warming. Once we get a lot of CO2 in the atmosphere it will be very hard to get it out and it will take centuries of hardship due to the careless behaviour of a earlier generation. Same with plastic nurdles.

How many people today grab a takeaway coffee cup from the local cafe to drink on the go? We don’t know, but the number must be enormous.. Most every one of the above have a plastic top that will last 100s of years. Some cafes still use plastic cups that last a similar time. Is 10 minutes of coffee worth 100s of years of trash?
These items can be seen littering our gutters and on our streets all over the place. If they were all cardboard, they would still be littered, but they would, at least, be gone in a short time.
They do not need to be made of plastic.
On the way home from the gym last week, a distance of about 1 km (1/2 mile), I counted the items of plastic litter on the curb as I walked. In that short distance I counted 63 pieces of plastic litter. Plastic drink bottles, bottle tops, candy wrappers, plastic film, polystyrene fragments etc. That seemed to be a lot to me. I guess it is a generational thing. Our parents would have been horrified to see that amount, whereas it seems to go unnoticed by our youth of today. In another 20 years how many pieces will there be on this stretch, -- 200? What will today’s youth think of that new amount then when they are older? Will their children be so readily accepting of a higher amount of litter?
Discussion · No Comments
There are no responses to "The nurdles’ quest for ocean domination". Comments are closed for this post.Oops! Sorry, comments are closed at this time. Please try again later.