Plastic pollution is a highly visible environmental issue that many people can easily recognise and relate to. However, a less obvious but equally concerning aspect is the harmful chemicals associated with them. Most plastic is made from fossil fuels and chemical emissions can occur throughout the whole lifecycle of plastics, contributing to environmental degradation and posing risks to human health.
Demonstrating that nurdles contain toxic chemicals can serve as a powerful argument for stronger environmental protections and mitigation strategies.
Nurdles pollute chemicals throughout their whole lifecycle
Chemicals from production
More than 13,000 chemicals are associated with plastics and plastic production, including toxic chemicals like PFAS, flame retardants and bisphenols. The word plastic actually describes a group of materials made from a mixture of chemicals. Chemicals added to plastics during production can be both intentionally and unintentionally added through contamination.
Chemical additives
Additives are common in all types of plastics. To produce plastic with desired properties, such as flexibility, colour or flame retardancy, producers and manufacturers will add thousands of additives such as dyes and plastizers.
Contaminants from oil and gas
Other chemicals that can be added to plastics during production can be unintentional contaminants from the raw material, fossil fuels, used to make plastics. These can include toxic metals like lead and mercury.
Problem Polymers
Imagine you’re holding a beaded necklace. Each bead is small on its own, but when you link them together, they create something long, flexible, and useful. That’s essentially what a polymer is, a building block to make certain types of plastics.
However, some building blocks are much more toxic than others because of the chemicals they contain. For example, polystyrene is a common type of plastic that all of us have most likely used at some point in our lives, whether through packaging materials, disposable cups, or even insulation in our homes. However, the chemical styrene, which can leach from polystyrene, has been classified as a carcinogen by the World Health Organization. It can also irritate the human nervous and respiratory systems.
Another less familiar problematic polymer are fluoropolymers, these are essentially plastics made with PFAS, often used for creating non-stick surfaces and offering high-temperature resistance in a range of products, like non-stick pans. PFAS or “forever chemicals”, are a group of over 10,000 industrial very persistent substances that can pose significant risks to human and environmental health.
Chemicals in plastic products
The problem with chemicals continues once plastic is in its product form, lots of chemicals can still migrate or leach into the environment. Many of these chemicals are not tightly bound to the plastic’s polymer structure and so over time, this can lead to the release of chemicals, creating exposure risks for both humans and ecosystems.
For example, flame retardants from plastic products have been found to leach out during use, as well as high levels of metals under certain conditions, particularly higher temperatures. Worryingly, studies have also shown leaching of chemicals can occur from plastic toys due to contact with saliva in children.
In their nurdle form, plastic pellets can release chemicals such as flame retardants into the environment. Research has shown that as the size of these pellets decreases, the rate of chemical leaching increases. This suggests that smaller pellets pose a greater risk of releasing harmful substances.
Chemicals in nurdles in the environment
The story doesn’t end there, once plastic is in our seas it can also attract other chemical pollutants from the surroundings, concentrating and transporting harmful chemicals within the environment. Nurdles in particular are very good at this, because of their large surface area. Many persistent organic pollutants (POPs) have been found on nurdles at much higher concentrations than background levels. POPs are long-lasting chemicals that pose toxic risks to humans and wildlife, many are now restricted through the Stockholm Convention.
For example, on the coast of Japan, two POPs – Polychlorinated bisphenols (PCBs), chemicals which were commonly used as plasticizers in plastics and DDE (a by-product of an insecticide) have been found to accumulate in plastic pellets in concentrations up to a million times higher than surrounding seawater. Additionally, nurdles from the X-Press Pearl shipping disaster which spilled millions of nurdles into the sea off the coast of Sri Lanka, were found to adsorb toxic chemicals from the ships cargo once in the sea, including heavy metals and Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH – commonly found in oil and gasoline).
This is a major threat to marine wildlife such as seabirds as, if ingested, these pellets could serve as a potential source of toxic chemicals. Studies show that PCBs from ingested plastics can transfer into the tissue of seabirds and their chicks, which has been found to negatively affect their breeding success.
Chemicals in recycled nurdles
When plastics are recycled they are made back into nurdles, flakes and powders. Recycling, often seen as a solution to plastic waste, can unintentionally worsen the problem of toxic chemicals in plastics. This is because recycling can concentrate some harmful additives like flame retardants, which are not removed during processing. Additionally, cross contamination can occur through the mixing of different plastics, and inefficient sorting can allow for banned or hazardous substances to persist in recycled materials. This means recycled materials frequently carry higher concentrations of harmful substances, such as additives and contaminants, increasing risks to human health, wildlife, and ecosystems.
For instance, nurdles found on beaches in southwest England have been found to contain elevated levels of bromine, lead, and antimony. These elements are linked to toxic flame retardants and likely originated from poorly sorted, recycled electronic waste.
Wildlife, like birds, often mistake nurdles for food. Because recycled plastics tend to contain more unintended chemicals, their ingestion poses a significant danger to these birds and other animals.
The challenge of managing chemicals in plastics
Regulatory efforts to manage plastics and chemicals are hampered by fragmented and inconsistent policies across local, regional, and international jurisdictions. These discrepancies result in governance gaps and overlaps, complicating effective oversight. Establishing a unified governance framework is essential to create consistent global standards and ensure the comprehensive management of plastic pollution and its associated risks.
Another major challenge in reducing chemical emissions from plastics is the limited availability of comprehensive and reliable data on the identity, quantities, and potential hazards of chemicals used in plastic products. Additionally, there is a lack of clarity regarding how these chemicals move through various exposure pathways across the entire plastic value chain.
Biobased plastics
It is also important to notes that when it comes to chemicals, biobased plastics will pose many similar issues. While bioplastics are made from alternative feedstocks like corn or sugar beets, what ultimately gives any plastic—whether conventional or bio-based—its defining properties is a complex mixture of chemicals. For example, a study conducted in 2020 concluded that bio-based and conventional plastics pose similar toxicity risks, with most biobased samples containing over 1,000 distinct chemical compounds, and some samples having as many as 20,000.
Opportunities the management of chemicals in plastics
Demonstrating that nurdles contain toxic chemicals can serve as a powerful argument for stronger environmental protections and mitigation strategies. Also highlighting how much plastic pellet production is contributing to wider carbon emissions and climate targets can be a strong argument for reducing plastic pellet production overall.
Other recommendations and opportunities for better regulated chemicals and plastics include:
- The global plastics treaty presents an opportunity to regulate chemical of concern in plastics at the global level. The treaty provides an opportunity to include measures to address chemicals of concern in plastics at all stages of a plastic’s life cycle.
- Design plastics to be safer by prioritising plastics free from chemicals of concern, such as persistent organic pollutants, PFAS, and endocrine-disrupting chemicals. These should be targeted for phase-out internationally whilst avoiding regrettable substitution (when a harmful chemical or material is replaced with another that later turns out to have similar or new dangerous risks).
- Use better chemical assessments taking into account the whole life-cycle of plastics, to identify safer, more sustainable solutions that support a circular economy.
- Promote chemical transparency throughout the entire plastics supply chain. This should require full disclosure of all chemicals in plastic products, including their quantities and use. This will further enable:
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- Regulatory authorities to more accurately assess risks.
- Recyclers to identify hazardous chemicals and prevent contamination in recycled materials.
- Businesses and consumers to make informed decisions about the products they sell and purchase.
A unified approach on all of these measures can ensure better environmental and public health outcomes across the plastics value chain.
Resources on chemicals and plastics:
These resources have been developed by organisations around the world to support research, evidence gathering and innovation into chemicals and plastics. They can be used with appropriate credits and unless stated are not created or endorsed by Fidra or the Great Nurdle Hunt.