Friends of the Earth Norway (Naturvernverbondet) have been raising awareness of the issue of nurdle pollution with their volunteers up and down the country.

Sightings include countless pellets spotted in the Frier fjord, adjacent to industrial hubs. Pellets have also been seen to travel much further afield to remote locations. For example, nurdles have been spotted in the Lofoten islands in the very North of the country, and even on Svalbard.

The Norwegian Norner laboratories are a research facility that carry out sophisticated analysis of beached nurdles. The aim is to find out more about the potential source and age of the pellets. Together with Naturvernforbundet, we have submitted pellets from the Firth of Forth to the lab – initial findings are described here.

Nurdles were estimated to be the third largest source of microplastics to Norway’s seas, according to a 2015 government report.

Explore our nurdle map to see more pellet finds in Norway and northern Scandinavia.

Show All Hide All Nurdles found in 2013 Nurdles found in 2014 Nurdles found in 2015 Nurdles found in 2016 Nurdles found in 2017

Photo: Heavily polluted shoreline at Frier Fjord, Norway (PE Schulze).