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Stop Nurdles From Reaching Our Water And Poisoning Everything
Final signature count: 9,626
9,626 signatures toward our 30,000 goal
Sponsor: Free The Ocean
Billions of plastic pellets are spilling into U.S. waterways, and no federal law stops it. One company proved zero discharge is possible. We must make this law.
Nurdles are the raw plastic pellets that form the foundation of nearly every plastic product on earth — food containers, car parts, packaging, electronics. They're smaller than a pea. And they're everywhere they shouldn't be.
These pellets spill during production, transport, and handling, then slip through drains into stormwater systems and flow directly into rivers, lakes, and coastal waters. Because of their size, they're nearly impossible to intercept once they're moving.2 On beaches and shorelines across the United States, nurdles now rank among the most common forms of plastic pollution found.2
More Than a Litter Problem
Once nurdles reach the water, they act like tiny chemical sponges, absorbing toxins from the surrounding environment. Fish, seabirds, and marine animals frequently mistake them for food — and when they're ingested, the damage is real. Internal injuries. Concentrated toxin exposure. Contamination that moves up the food chain.2
South Carolina coastlines offer one stark example. Researchers and volunteers have found nurdles embedded in sand, caught in marsh grass, and massed in tidal zones. Experts describe the pollution as persistent and deeply resistant to cleanup — the pellets migrate with currents and tides faster than any removal effort can keep up.1
That's the core of the problem: cleanup doesn't work. Once nurdles are in the environment, they stay there. The only effective solution is prevention — stopping pellets from escaping industrial facilities in the first place.
A Real Solution Already Exists
In 2025, a landmark legal settlement with Styropek USA in Pennsylvania proved that prevention is possible. After environmental groups documented the discharge of billions of pellets into Raccoon Creek and the Ohio River, Styropek agreed to pay $2.6 million in penalties and, more importantly, implement a strict zero-discharge policy. That policy required a redesigned stormwater system, advanced monitoring technology, and automatic financial penalties triggered by any future pellet release.3
It works. The infrastructure exists. The technology exists. What's missing is a federal standard that requires every nurdle-handling facility in the country to meet it — not just the ones that get caught and taken to court.
No Federal Standard. No Accountability.
Right now, there is no national zero-discharge requirement for facilities that manufacture, process, or handle plastic pellets. That gap means spills go unpenalized, enforcement is inconsistent, and the communities that live downstream absorb the consequences. Rivers carry the pollution. Beaches collect it. Wildlife ingests it.
No community should have to file a lawsuit to protect its waterways. A national standard — with mandatory stormwater controls, real-time monitoring, and automatic penalties for violations — would put the responsibility where it belongs: on the industries that produce the problem.
The EPA has both the authority and the opportunity to act. What one company was forced to do in Pennsylvania, every pellet-handling facility in the country can be required to do under federal law.
Sign the petition now to urge the EPA Administrator to establish a strict, enforceable national zero-discharge standard for plastic pellet facilities — before more damage reaches our water, our wildlife, and our communities.
