Context

‘Nurdles’ is the colloquial term used for pre-production plastic pellets. Typically ranging between 2mm to 5mm in size, nurdles are used universally in the plastics supply and manufacturing chain. As a base material, nurdles are melted down before being reformed into everyday plastic products. It only takes a cursory glance at our modern-day surroundings to realise that these pellets are the building blocks of the human environment.

The issue

Nurdles are proving to be an increasing environmental concern.

The scale of their impact is evident from the fact that nurdles constitute the third largest source of microplastics unintentionally released into the environment in the EU. They are also thought to be the second-largest source of micropollutants in oceans globally. Pinning down specific figures is not easy, since the lack of concrete available data about pellet losses is part of the problem. Nevertheless, it is highly likely that the amount of nurdles entering the environment globally every year runs to the hundreds of thousands of tonnes.

The polluting effect of nurdles stems from their unintentional escape during manufacturing, handling, and transportation, where they are lost in large numbers to the environment. Often, they end up in waterways and, ultimately, the oceans. Their small size, as well as lightweight nature, make them extremely mobile, with the consequence that effective removal following spillage is challenging, if not impossible.

As is the case with most plastics, nurdles are, broadly speaking, chemically inert. This means that they do not readily biodegrade, but instead persist and accumulate.

Once they end up in waterbodies, the primary mechanism by which nurdles may impact the environment is through accidental ingestion by wildlife, as they can resemble food. This can then cause a physical hazard within animals’ bodies. It is also believed that their surfaces can collect and transport other pollutants which can go on to cause harm. There is currently a lack of definitive scientific consensus on the direct impacts of such microplastics on human health.

Attention and responses

It is likely that the issue of nurdles derives from their widespread use and manufacture in plastic products dating back to the late twentieth century. Nurdle pollution is not a new phenomenon, with spills recorded as early as 2012.

Notably, The Great Nurdle Hunt was established by Fidra, a Scottish environmental charity, in 2014 to address nurdle pollution in East Lothian. Over the past decade, it has driven information gathering and campaigned for policy change in respect of plastic pellet pollution. Fidra’s recent survey of 195 sites of special scientific interest found nurdles to be present in 84% of the sites.

More recently, in October 2025, plastic beads were accidentally released from the Eastbourne Wastewater Treatment Works into the sea during heavy rainfall. Shortly after, they were found washed up along the Sussex coastline: primarily on the Camber Sands beach, but also the adjacent Rye Harbour Nature Reserve; The scale of the pollution event has attracted coverage in the national press, and has sparked concerted clean-up efforts by volunteers, non-profit organisations, Rother District Council, along with the body responsible for the spill, Southern Water. The Environment Agency, during the course of its investigation, has classified the incident as a ‘category one’, i.e. one that is “deemed to have had a major environmental impact”. Clean-up efforts are ongoing, as further pellets are expected to be deposited with each spring tide in the coming months.

Strictly speaking, these ‘biobeads’ are not pre-production nurdles, but they nonetheless illustrate the pertinence of plastic pellet pollution in the domestic context. In any event, just a few months prior in March 2025, a collision between an oil tanker and a container ship in the North Sea did result in nurdles being spilt and subsequently washing up on the shoreline around Norfolk.

Despite both the early awareness and ongoing instances of plastic pellet pollution on UK soil, as will be seen below, this has yet to be translated to a domestic regulatory response.

Within industry, Operation Clean Sweep is an example of an industry-led initiative that seeks to prevent plastic pellet loss to the environment by promoting transparency and good practice. It has existed since 1991, and its membership includes many of the world’s largest plastics producers. It is voluntary and lacks regulatory force.

As illustrated above by the North Sea collision in March 2025, a significant, if not predominant, trigger of pellet loss is in the context of maritime transport. In this vein, the response of the International Maritime Organisation (“IMO”) is relevant. Its response to nurdle loss was triggered by the pollution event caused by the MV X-Press Pearl incident off the coast of Sri Lanka in 2021. In March 2024, the Marine Environment Protection Committee of the IMO approved MEPC.1/Circ.909 Recommendations for the carriage of plastic pellets by sea in freight containers. This contained recommendations in relation to packaging quality, cargo information, and stowing practice. This recommendation has since been captured in recently approved EU regulation (see below).

EU Regulation

In October 2025, the European Parliament formally adopted Regulation (EU) 2025/2365 of the European Parliament and the Council of the EU on preventing plastic pellet losses to reduce microplastic pollution. This marked a culmination of a legislative process and negotiations that date back to 2023, when the proposal for a regulation was first tabled.

To highlight a few key features of this Regulation:

Target, hierarchy of actions, and holistic approach: The Regulation sets a clear ambition: zero plastic pellet losses. In support of this ambition is a three-step hierarchy of actions that underpin the obligations in the Regulation: first, the prevention of spills; then, containment; and finally, clean-up. The Regulation recognises the need for obligations to cover the entirety of the supply chain irrespective of pellets’ end use, including production, distribution, storage, and cleaning.

Risk management plans: A central pillar of the regulatory mechanism is the requirement for economic operators to submit a risk management plan: Article 5. Annex I contains detailed provisions for the contents of a risk management plan. The language of proportionality, i.e. proportionate to the nature and size of the installation, is used in respect of the packaging, equipment, and procedures used to implement the three-step hierarchy.

Certification: Under Article 6, mandatory certification requirements, issued by an accredited certifier, apply to economic operators that handle over 1,500 tonnes of plastic pellets per installation per year. Certifiers would be tasked with undertaking assessment and spot checks of the compliance with and adequacy of risk management plans. However, operators falling under the 1,500-tonne threshold are not subject to such independent oversight, an exemption that has been criticised by environmental interest groups.^[1] The Regulation also carves out exemptions from obligations by way of permits (Article 7) and environmental management systems (Article 8).

Scope of application: In addition to EU carriers, the Regulation also applies to non-EU carriers of plastic pellets by way of a designated authorised representative: Article 4. Further, the maritime transport of plastic pellets is also subject to obligations under the Regulation, with Article 12 bringing into law what was previously voluntary recommendations on carriage from the IMO (see above).

Recording and reporting requirements: Economic operators and carriers (both EU and non-EU) are obliged to keep records of annually estimated quantities of pellet losses, to be provided to competent authorities and certifiers upon demand: Article 5(6). Where spills or losses do occur, the same parties, in addition to taking remedial measures, are also required to report on estimated quantities of loss.

The application of the obligations contained in the Regulation is phased. On 16 December 2025, the first of these obligations began to apply. As of now, amongst other things, “Economic operators, EU carriers and non-EU carriers shall ensure that losses are avoided. Where losses occur, economic operators, EU carriers and non-EU carriers shall take immediate action to contain and clean up those losses in accordance with environmentally sustainable practices”: Article 3(1).

The requirement for carriers to take immediate action to contain and clean up losses is consistent with the well-established Polluter Pays Principle which underpins EU environmental law through Article 191(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

The remaining obligations shall apply from 17 December 2027. However, a further deferment applies to actors involved in the maritime sector – the obligations on shippers and operators, agents and masters of seagoing vessels will not begin to apply until 17 December 2028. There will therefore be a delay before the full effects of this landmark regulation make themselves felt.

The UK position

As indicated in its answer to a written question dated 2 December 2025, the UK Government does not appear to have any formal intention to align the UK’s regulatory position on plastic pellet transport and storage with those of the EU.

The Government’s answer did draw attention to:

• Its support for industrial-led initiatives such as Operation Clean Sweep;
• Its work at the IMO, as well as that as a signatory to the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic (“the OSPAR Convention”); and
• Its support for standardisation efforts by the British Standards Institution in relation to pellet loss.

In relation to the anticipated global agreement on plastic pollution, the Government says it has “called for specific provisions…to address pellet loss throughout the chain”.

Commentary

In a context where the Government is grappling with the challenges posed by pollution — launching multiple public consultations, committing to new measures in its revised Environmental Improvement Plan, and preparing to publish its PFAS Action Plan (see our recent Quarterly Chemicals Law Update) — it might be said to be surprising that it nevertheless has no plans to align nurdle transport and storage regulations with those of the EU.

At the same time, the OEP has identified potential failures by the Government to comply with environmental law in respect of both the marine environment under the Marine Strategy Regulations 2010 (“MSR 2010”) and water bodies under the Water Environment (Water Framework Directive) (England and Wales) Regulations 2017 (“the WFD Regulations”).

Plastic pellet pollution may well be a relevant consideration to both these matters.

With regard to the former, the descriptors for “good environmental status” under Directive 2008/56/EC (compliance of which is required under MSR 2010) relate to marine litter, contaminant concentration, as well as marine food webs. Based on the mechanisms by which nurdles impact the environment (see above), the presence of nurdles is capable of affecting these descriptors.

With regard to the latter, the recent adoption of a directive adding microplastics to the indicative list of river basin specific pollutants under watchlists is a clear sign of the growing awareness of plastics in waterbodies generally. Nurdles are unlikely to escape this scrutiny.

The above illustrates the potential for comprehensive regulation to nurdles to form part of a coordinated Government response to not only marine/water environmental protection, but to pollution generally.

However, even though measures targeting microplastic pollution are largely absent except for a commitment to ban wet wipes containing plastic across the UK from Spring 2027, the revised Environmental Improvement Plan includes commitments to “better understand the health impacts associated with polluted waters” and to “minimise environmental risks from chemicals and pesticides”. Therefore, despite the absence of specific commitments on microplastics, the growing public and scientific recognition of the risks posed by nurdles may yet make it unavoidable for the Government to introduce an appropriate regulatory framework for their management.

Footnotes

[1] Plastic pellet regulation: the Rethink Plastic alliance welcomes the EU Parliament's green light - Rethink Plastic