Biobeads and nurdles are both primary microplastics, both are damaging pollutants, and both are too often spilled into the environment and are hard to clean up. But biobeads and nurdles are used by different industries, both are causing issues on coastlines in the UK and beyond.
Camber Sands Biobeads Spill – November 2025
In November, millions of biobeads started washing up on Camber Sands beach in East Sussex after a mechanical fault at a local wastewater treatment plant. 10 tonnes of biobeads are thought to have been lost devastating beaches and the marine environment.
Clean up efforts by the water company, council, and local volunteers are still ongoing. Unfortunately, this area is likely to feel the impact of the incident for many years to come, as has been the case with previous events. The coastline is frequently affected by pollution, for example, previous spills have happened in 2010 and 2017, and biobeads from these events are still being found today.
Nurdle pollution in the UK
Nurdle pollution can be found UK wide, often near industrial sites which is the main source of pollution as nurdles are lost at plastic production sites, during transport and when they are melted down to make products. In addition, this year saw a major spill at sea in the UK.
The North Sea Nurdle Spill – March 2025
In March, a collision between two ships off the east coast of England and a subsequent fire resulted in the loss of multiple shipping containers into the North Sea. Millions of nurdles washed up along the Lincolnshire and Norfolk coast, including in the internationally important conservation area known as ‘the Wash’, posing a major threat to birds and seals.
The clean-up response saw over 10,000kg of plastic removed from the beaches initially, however many months later more nurdles have continued to wash up and will continue to impact the area in the future.
The difference between biobeads and nurdles
What are nurdles?
Nurdles are small plastics pellets, approximately the size of a lentil, they are industrial feedstock used to make almost all plastic products. Nurdles are made from fossil fuels and made into 2-5mm pellets transported all around the world to different factories to make all sorts of plastic products from phone cases to car parts.
The scale of nurdle production is staggering, and so is the pollution. Over 22 trillion nurdles are lost from the global plastic supply chain each year, making them a major source of microplastic pollution worldwide. Nurdles enter the environment at multiple points across the plastics supply chains: at industrial manufacturing sites, during road and rail transport, and from cargo ships crossing the oceans.
Source: Global Plastics Supply Chain
Appearance: Small plastic pellets, smooth edges, can come in a range of colours.
What are Biobeads?
Biobeads are very similar to nurdles in appearance, however they serve a different purpose. These plastic pellets are used in wastewater treatment plants to filter out organic and chemical contaminants of effluent treated water before discharging it back into rivers or the sea.
They are also small 2-5mm pellets which have dimpled surfaces intended to encourage bacteria to stick to them to make a biofilm. Water treatment plants are predicted to use billions of these tiny beads in their tanks.
Source: Wastewater treatment plants
Appearance: Small plastic pellets, rough edges, usually black, blue or white in colour.
These plastic pellets are causing devastation to our environment
Nurdles and biobeads are by definition microplastics, which are a huge threat to our environment. Once these microplastics enter our environment they can spread far and wide and are near impossible to clean up. They are contaminating our water and land, posing risks to marine life, food production and human health.
Wildlife can mistake nurdles and biobeads for food, as to marine species these look like fish eggs, additionally because of the algae that can accumulate on the surface of these plastic pellets they also smell like food. Ingesting these plastics can lead to organ damage and starvation for many different species, while introducing plastics and toxic chemicals into the food chain. Over 700 marine species have been shown to ingest plastic debris, with nurdles found in puffins, turtles, fish and more.
As well as containing harmful chemicals, overtime nurdles and biobeads can act like toxic sponges and adsorb pollutants and pathogens from the environment onto their surface, including banned chemicals like PCBs which have been found to accumulate in plastic pellets in concentrations up to a million times higher than surrounding seawater.
Nurdle and biobeads pollution can also impact livelihoods and the wellbeing of local communities, as the recent coastal spills impacting the UK have demonstrated.
What is the solution?
As the recent spills in the UK demonstrate, not enough is being done to prevent nurdles and biobeads from getting into the environment. As well as calling for a reduction in plastic production and a need to transition to safer materials, there are specific solutions that can be implemented to prevent nurdle and biobead pollution, many water treatment systems don’t use biobeads already.
Solutions to nurdle pollution
Nurdles are found around the world due to poor handling throughout the plastic supply chain. Many organisations are working to prevent this pollution, from raising public awareness to pursuing legal action. The global plastics treaty offers a key opportunity to tackle pellet pollution, with negotiations continuing in 2026. Fidra is also calling for strong, mandatory rules from the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to ensure nurdles are safely packaged and stored during sea transport, reducing the risk of spills. With global policies and stronger national regulations, we can make real progress toward ending plastic pellet pollution.
Resources:
To find out more about solutions to nurdle pollution head to: https://hub.nurdlehunt.org/nurdle-solutions/
To find out more about solutions to sewage sludge: https://www.fidra.org.uk/sewage_free_soils/