The Great Global Nurdle Hunt

What is the Great Global Nurdle Hunt?

The Great Global Nurdle Hunt is Fidra’s annual citizen science event, which invites community groups, organisations, and individuals from around the world to look for small plastic pellets called nurdles and log their finds.    

Nurdles may be small but they are big pollution problem, nurdle hunters have found them around the world, even in protected areas. Nearly all plastic products start life as a nurdle. These plastic pellets are made by the petrochemical industry, then transported around world before being melted together to make plastic products, along the way these plastic pellets are lost into the environment by the plastic industry. It is estimated that over 445,000 tonnes of nurdles reach the environment every year! 

Together, Nurdle Hunt participants raise awareness of plastic pellet pollution while helping to build a global evidence of where pellet pollution has been found.  

The important data collected by volunteers highlights the scale pellet pollution to policy makers and strengthens calls for action to tackle this significant source of industrial microplastic plastic pollution.  

All annual reports for Great Global Nurdle Hunt, along with webinars and other useful resources can be found below. 

The Great Global Nurdle Hunt 2026 has begun!

Take part between 4th September –  4th October 2026 

Download your participant pack here!

Taking Part

Taking part is easy, you can do a nurdle on your own or organize a nurdle hunt for your community, colleagues, friends and family to take part in.

Download your participant pack , full of information and resources, nurdle hunting tips, social media resources and more, to help you to take part and organise your own hunts!

Download the app for Apple and Android. follow us on social media and sign up to our newsletter to receive updates on this year’s event, useful resources, and information to help you take part.  

Don’t forget that you don’t have to wait for the Great Global Nurdle Hunt to start taking part in nurdle hunts. Anyone can do a nurdle hunt at anytime of the year, not only during the Great Global Nurdle Hunt, and no special training or equipment is required. Find out how you can get started nurdle hunting today and download our app!

Image Credit: A Greener Future

The Great Global Nurdle Hunt 2026

The Great Global Nurdle Hunt has begun! Take part between 4th September to 4th October 2026. 

You can download your copy of this year’s participant pack, full of information, resources, nurdle hunting tips, social media resources and more, to help you to take part and organise your own hunts!

Make sure you download the Great Nurlde Hunt app, designed to make nurdle hunting easier than ever! Log your sightings quickly even without an internet connection and use the built-in counter to effortlessly track your finds. Download from Apple and Android stores now!

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok and sign up to our newsletter to stay up to date on this year’s hunt!

Using the Great Global Nurdle Hunt for change 

Taking part in the Great Global Nurdle Hunt is a fantastic opportunity to engage with the public, media, policy makers and other stakeholders on the issue of nurdle pollution, while also gathering vital evidence of nurdle pollution in your area. It is an opportunity to show decision makers the issue first hand and that people want to see change, educate and increase awareness of nurdle pollution among the public, gather important evidence, draw media attention, and much more.  

The Great Global Nurdle Hunt reports present the data collected by volunteers around the world and are a useful resource to help communicate and highlight the scale of pellet pollution and the solutions. 

Learn more about how to use nurdle hunts to engage with decision makers and how you can use nurdle hunts have helped deliver change. 

The Great Global Nurdle Hunt 2025 results

The latest Great Global Nurdle Hunt returned from the 1st-31st October 2025, with participants, taking part around the world. Key findings from October’s 2025 Great Global Nurdle Hunt include: 

• Over 1,500 volunteers across 25 countries took part in 297 nurdle hunts. 

• Volunteers found nurdles in 92% of participating countries including in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Russia and the Philippines for the first time.  

• In October 2025 88% of hunts in coastal and marine protected areas found nurdles. 

Read the full results in the Great Global Nurdle Hunt 2025 report. 

The Great Global Nurdle Hunt reports 

The Great Global Nurdle Hunt webinar series 

Other Resources