nurdle trommel

mermaid tears

Nurdles, or “mermaid tears,” are small plastic pellets about the size of a lentil that are the building blocks for most plastic goods ranging from plastic water bottles to cars. Unfortunately, they often find their way into our oceans and rivers through transportation, effluent pipes, or industrial spillage. Thus, contributing to microplastic pollution.

plastic food

Over time, as plastic is exposed to sunlight, wind, waves, and heat, it breaks down into microplastic. The size, color, and shape of microplastic and nurdles make them easily mistakable as food for marine wildlife, causing harm to our precious Mama Ocean and her inhabitants. With up to 250 million nurdles leaking into the ocean each year, marine contamination is a huge concern and only growing (and that’s just counting nurdles).

By 2050, they’re estimating there will be more plastic by weight than fish in the ocean.

one solution

The Nurdle Trommel is one sand-sifting solution to aid in unearthing buried plastic from the sand. The machine’s sieves are specifically designed to remove as much plastic as possible while leaving all the sand and as much organic matter on the beach, but only one shovel-full of sand at a time. We’re anxious to learn about more solutions in the future!