Toolkit for The International Plastic Pellet Count

Plastic pellets can be found anywhere, but are found in the highest abundance near facilities that produce, transport, transfer, or use them. Plastic pellets lost on land will likely eventually find their way to waterways. For that reason, they are most commonly found on riverbanks, lake shores, and beaches near facilities that handle them, but they can also be found near train tracks. If you are looking around a facility that handles plastic pellets, you are most likely to find them near the drainage points, the points of lowest elevation. Since they are small and lightweight, they can also be blown around and get trapped in sheltered cracks and crevices.

Some of the hot spots for plastic pellets are near plastic pellet manufacturers, railway lines that transport them, storage-in-transit (SIT) facilities, plastic pellet bagging (transloading) facilities, domestic and international ports, recycling facilities, and near businesses that frequently use plastic pellets.

The following could provide some further tips on where to go.

• Here is a map of where plastic pellets have been found. This is useful, as it highlights trouble spots and it also shows where there is a gap of information.
• PIRG has a map of where all the facilities that produce pre-production plastic, i.e., plastic pellets, flakes, granules, etc., are located.

​​You’re welcome to look for plastic pellets anywhere. All data, even reports of ‘zero’ pellets, is important. Checking in your local waterway is a fine place to start.

For the International Plastic Pellet Count, we want to check places where pellets have not been looked for previously and highlight areas where we know there is a problem to help spark action.

If there are not a lot of plastic pellets in your area, but you still want to contribute, you can conduct a cleanup and waste audit in your community using the TrashBlitz app (available on iOS and Google Play). Consider combining a pellet hunt with a general clean-up event or a microplastic clean-up. Join the TrashBlitz Anywhere project in the app, then select International Plastic Pellet Count. TrashBlitz is a community-powered data collection tool that transforms cleanups into a movement by logging trash data by type, material, and brand to build local datasets that drive grassroots policy and systemic change. This effort is just as important for protecting both marine and terrestrial ecosystems and keeping our natural spaces.

Register your event for the International Plastic Pellet Count here.

Weather and Clothing

Make sure you are dressed in proper attire for your day of plastic pellet hunting. You might be near a body of water and on uneven surfaces so make sure you wear proper clothing and the right shoes.

Safety

Beware of tides, waves, and currents.

Go with a group or let someone know where you will be.

What to Bring

A container for the plastic pellets is a must. Try to reuse old containers!

Hand sanitizer and gloves – plastic pellets may have absorbed harmful chemicals and so you might want to protect your skin (optional)

Tweezers – if needed to remove individual plastic pellets (optional)

Sieve – separate sand from plastic (optional)

If you are looking near a waterbody, it is best to look during low tide. Since plastic pellets are small and lightweight, they can also be blown around and trapped in sheltered cracks and crevices. You can also search for plastic pellets in the following places:

Paths: Along the perimeter of beaches and waterways, plastic pellets get trapped in sheltered tracks.

Headlands of a sandy beach: Debris often collects at the far corners of a beach. It is easier to see plastic pellets on a sandy beach, not that they don’t accumulate on rocky ones too!

Vegetation: Grasses and other plants can trap plastic pellets within their roots.

Train tracks: The areas adjacent to train tracks are often privately owned and oncoming trains can be dangerous. Be mindful to not trespass. Extra care should be taken with any pellet hunts near train lines, as they present multiple risks.

If you are near a water-body, start your search at the new strand line (wrackline), the stretch of debris left behind when the high tide recedes. You may need to scratch around a bit, as the plastic pellets can be hidden amongst the debris. If you are not finding plastic pellets within the new strand line, look within the old strand line, which is a line of debris left behind slightly higher up. This strand line was left by a more extreme high-tide event in the past. New strand lines show the high-tide line within a daily ebb and flow cycle. Plastic pellets are often found within the smaller debris within the strand lines. If you don’t find plastic pellets, this is also useful data and should still be recorded. Nurdle Patrol has recorded helpful videos on how to do nurdle hunts: on the beach and by a river.

When you are first looking for pellets, it is best to spread out or work in small groups. If you find a lot of pellets in one spot, all can gather and collect!

Plastic pellets are round, typically 2-5mm (size of a lentil), and come in all different colors. All plastic pellets are microplastic, but not all microplastics are plastic pellets. Please don’t include other types of microplastic in your count, but please do clean up all types of plastic from our environment!

Count and pick up

microplastic between 2 – 5 mm in size

Hard, smooth plastic

Disk/lentil shaped

Clear/opaque or various colors

DON’T count, DO pick up

Secondary microplastic, typically irregular shaped

BB gun pellets

Expanded polystyrene (‘squishy’ plastic) Biobeads (gray, rigid surface)

To report your data, you will need to first download the Nurdle Patrol app. Be sure to allow “Nurdle Patrol” to use your location while using the app. This prompt should appear, when you open the app for the first time. Also, be sure to complete your profile in the app or you will not be able to report your data.

You need to time the pellet count and start the timer after you find your first plastic pellet. The amount of time you search for pellets should be divisible by 10 minutes. It is easiest if each participant counts their own pellets and records their own finds, but it is possible for people to group together as well and record their findings as a group.

If there are too many to count, visually estimate. If you find none, that is still important to track!

Remember, this is the data needed to report:

• How many people were looking?
• How many plastic pellets were found?
• How long did it take to find that amount?
• What was the date of your nurdle hunt?
• Where were you? (If you open the app at the location, the latitude and longitude will automatically populate, as long as you have allowed the app to use your location while using the app)
• In the add notes/ comments here section, be sure to write ‘International Plastic Pellet Count’
• Press the Blue button ‘Submit Patrol’ to submit your data.

Unfortunately, like many types of plastic, plastic pellets are not recyclable. Therefore, if you want to dispose of them, place them in a sealed bag or container before putting them into the garbage to ensure that they do not get lost into the environment a second time. A container that is already being disposed of would be optimal.

Alternatively, you can find creative uses for them:

• Reach out to your representatives and ask for tougher legislation regarding plastic pellet pollution. Tell the story of your plastic pellet hunt, and show or give the plastic pellets to your representatives.
• Put them on display to raise awareness
• Donate them to research
• Create art or give to local artists

We would also love to have them! We will share them with the other organizations involved with the International Plastic Pellet Count.

Please, send them to:

Kelly Leviker
1543 Wazee St., Suite 460
Denver, CO 80202

Nail the logistics

– Decide on a time and place. We strongly recommend that you visit the location ahead of time to get a sense of the setup and where pellet pollution might be.

– Do a pellet hunt and test the Nurdle Patrol app beforehand.

– Clean up events sometimes require a permit. Check with local authorities or park services to see if there are any specific guidelines you need to follow or permits you need to obtain for a public event.

– If you are doing an event on the beach or in the marsh, you’ll want to schedule the event around low tide.

– Conduct a site safety check beforehand deciding on a time and place is important.  Is the site safely accessible on foot, especially for marsh or riverbed sites. Are there loose rocks that may be exposed during low tide and inhibit the ability to reach the wrack/strand line?

– If you aren’t sure when to have your event, 10 am or 2 pm are usually good times of day for volunteers on the weekend.

– Think through the materials you will need. Here’s a basic checklist to get you started:

• Jars or other containers to hold pellets (1 per counter)
• Pad of paper and pens, in case someone is unable to download the app.
• A table, if you are going to have an informational table
• Materials for informational table, including the printable graphics and information sheets found later in this guide
• Gloves
• Snacks for volunteers (pro tip: ask around at local businesses and get them donated)
• Hand sanitizer (optional)
• Sifters (optional)

Depending on the level of severity of plastic pellet pollution, you might want to combine the plastic pellet hunt with a general trash blitz. Example: 30 minutes of pellet hunting and an hour of trash collecting or combining a pellet hunt with a general microplastic hunt.

– Invite your friends, family, neighbors and other community members to join you.

– If you’re part of an organization, get your organization to host an event with you.

– Reach out to other organizations who might be interested in partnering.

– Invite VIPs to join: Champions of local causes, local celebrities, elected officials (local, state, national)

– “Google Forms”  are a useful tool to create event registration links and to help keep track of the number of attendees. If the event organizers would like to be able to contact volunteers who have signed up to send a confirmation email or reminder email, they can also include a field for email address. Sending an email either the week or day before events as a reminder, which includes information such as date, time, location, what to wear/bring, etc. helps folks who signed up remember the event is taking place and ensure folks will show up. The event organizers can also include a QR code or typed out link to the google form on any posters they hang up in public and include language like “sign up here!”

– Reach out to your local Waterkeeper, Surfrider, or other environmental organization to see if they would be interested in helping host and organize the event. Waterkeeper Alliance has a find your waterkeeper tool where folks can find their local waterkeeper.

-Create a web flyer and/or physical flyer with all the details of your event and share on social media (Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, Reddit, Nextdoor, etc.), put on public pinboards, example: in local coffee shops, grocery stores or recreation centers

– Create an event on Facebook and invite friends to participate

– Create and print a flyer and promote the event at other events

– Reach out to your local newspaper and see if they will include your event on their community events calendar

– Write a press advisory and send it to local tv, radio and print media about a week before the event, and invite them to cover it. (There is a sample media advisory in the full downloadable toolkit.)

– Call local media the day before to remind them that the event is happening.

– Have all the materials packed and ready the night before. Arrive at site early to set-up your table and prepare for the event. When guests arrive, help them download the Nurdle Patrol App. Start the event by telling folks a bit about plastic pellets (what they are, how they get lost, etc.) and how to conduct a plastic pellet hunt.

– Make sure to explain what a new and old strand line is. Encourage folks to spread out and look in the strand lines. Once they find their first pellet, tell them to start the clock. Pellet hunts should be conducted in ten-minute stints. It is okay if they do 20 or 40 minute stints, but the time should be able to be divisible by 10. You could consider having competitions to see who can collect the most pellets in 10-minutes. If you have a sieve, guests can use that to sift through sand and it can help find plastic pellets, as well as other microplastics.

– Take photos of the event and email them to [email protected] and post them on social media using the hashtag #InternationalPelletCount.

-Have everyone count their nurdles and report their findings in the Nurdle Patrol app.

To find out the total amount of plastic pellets found during your event you can add up everyone’s totals or you can download it from Nurdle Patrol.

If everyone uploads their finds to Nurdle Patrol, you can find the total amount found that day by following this step-by-step guide.

Step one: Go to Nurdle Patrol’s map. Zoom into your site, close enough so all data points can be seen. You can use the + and – tools on the left hand side of the screen to help you zoom in and out.

Step two: Click on the square button on the left-hand side of the screen, the fourth one down.

Step three: Make a polygon around your site,  by clicking on a spot above and to the left of your site and dragging the cursor to the bottom right of your site. Be sure to include every dot recorded on the day of your hunt. The dots should be inside the polygon.

Step four: a table of the data should appear.

Step five: Download the data in your preferred format. If you download a CSV or Excel file, you will be able to quickly and easily see the total amount of plastic pellets found. Be sure to only include data from the day of the event.

Step six: To find out the total amount, highlight the column that says ‘Amount’ and be sure to only include data points from the day of the International Plastic Pellet Count. At the bottom of the screen, you should see the overall total.

Pre-production microplastics are produced in over half of U.S. states. This map can help identify potential plastic pellet pollution spots near you.

Microplastics are accumulating in our oceans and waterways and negatively impacting wildlife.

All of the largest North American freight train companies (by revenue) have spilled plastic pellets into the environment.

Microplastics have been found throughout the human body. We compiled some resources so you can better understand how microplastics and plastic additives are entering our bodies and some tips to limit your exposure.