U.S. PIRG End of Year Drive

John,

In just a few minutes in May, volunteers around the world found nearly 50,000 plastic pellets in the environment.1

And that barely even scratched the surface.

These tiny pellets -- sometimes called "nurdles" -- are about the size of a grain of rice, and they make up the building blocks of all plastic production. Trillions of them enter our environment every single year. That's trillions with a T.2

But how do so many of those plastic pellets end up in our water? Here's where their journey begins:

U.S. PIRG End of Year Drive Nurdles Journey

Once these pellets are loose in the environment, cleaning them up is almost impossible.

They mix with sand, pebbles and dirt until they're nearly indistinguishable from their surrounding environment. From there, they can look like tasty food to birds, fish or sea turtles, making their way up the food chain and soaking up toxics as they go.4

We don't have to live in a world where we find plastic pellets washing up on every beach or lining every creekbed. That's why we're...

  • Shining a spotlight to educate the public about the problems posed by plastic pellet pollution.
  • Asking governors to take action to prevent plastic pellets from being spilled and dumped into the environment.
  • Calling on companies to do their part by cutting down on plastic packaging and advocating for policies that make unnecessary, single-use plastic a thing of the past.

Thank you,

Faye Park
President

P.S. Our work to slow the enormous tide of plastic entering our waterways wouldn't be possible without grassroots support. Will you help us tackle plastic pollution in the year to come by making a donation today?

1. "Nearly 50,000 plastic pellets found through citizen science effort," US PIRG, September 17, 2025.
2. Grace Vickers, "How do plastic pellets end up in our waterways?" US PIRG, October 9, 2025.
3. Grace Vickers, "How do plastic pellets end up in our waterways?" US PIRG, October 9, 2025.
4. Grace Vickers, "How do plastic pellets end up in our waterways?" US PIRG, October 9, 2025.

Your donation will power our dedicated staff of organizers, policy experts and attorneys who drive all of our campaigns in the public interest, from banning toxic pesticides and moving us beyond plastic, to saving our antibiotics and being your consumer watchdog, to protecting our environment and our democracy. None of our work would be possible without the support of people just like you.


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