The Great Global Nurdle Hunt

Would you like to take action by participating in a global citizen science project? The Great Global Nurdle Hunt is a great opportunity to do just that, and it’s on for the month of October. Read on to find out more.

What Are Nurdles?

Nurdles are small pellets of plastic which are used to make nearly all of our plastic products. They often end up in the environment, washing into our ocean and then onto our beaches. They can escape from the factory, or as in the case of the Pellet Spill of 2012, be the result of an shipping accident. 

A Nurdle Hunt is simply the act of searching for nurdles on the beach, collecting them and counting them.

During the month of October, people all over the world will be participating in The Great Global Nurdle Hunt, uploading their data to a global website. You can find all the info you need below to do your own Nurdle Hunt.

Get our there, have some fun, and contribute to citizen science to help make change happen!

How To Identify A Nurdle

Nurdles are mainly clear or white, but they can be other colours as well. Over time in the ocean, toxins will adhere to a nurdle’s surface and clear or white nurdles will turn orangey/yellow. Download this handy identification sheet from Fidra.

Fidra, the organiser, will use the data collected during The Great Global Nurdle Hunt to push for better legislation to stop nurdles from escaping into the environment.

Don’t forget to upload your findings to the map on their global website. And we would love to hear about your Nurdle Hunt. Tag us on social media (FB or IG) or send us an email with pictures and the details. Let’s put Hong Kong on the map with loads of data this year!

What Do I Do?

  1. Go to a beach
  2. Look for nurdles – most likely to be found in the high tide line
  3. Collect and count them (at the beach or later)
  4. Take some fun and creative photos if you want
  5. Upload the info to the database

More instructions on how to do a Nurdle Hunt can be found below. Collect and discard the non-nurdle microplastics too! You can also do a normal beach cleanup or just focus on the microplastics.