Today we launch the results of our third Great Global Nurdle Hunt, with more nurdles found than ever before.
Download and read our results report by clicking on the link below:
The Great Global Nurdle Hunt 2022
This year we saw an increase in nurdle finds, with 90% of hunts finding nurdles (up from 79% and 87% of hunts finding nurdles in 2021 and 2020) suggesting nurdle pollution could be on the rise. These results clearly demonstrate that voluntary efforts by industry are not sufficient in addressing nurdle pollution and stresses the urgency for legislation to stop nurdle pollution once and for all.
Our biggest volunteer effort yet!
Image taken by Adrian K during the Great Global Nurdle Hunt 2022, 30-100 nurdles were found in only 10 minutes in France
The 2022 event has been our biggest volunteer effort yet! With 1,365 volunteers taking part in nurdle hunts between 20th September and 17th October 2022. Across the world, nurdle hunters headed to beaches, rivers, and estuaries and spent a total of 1,383 hours hunting for these tiny plastic pellets -the equivalent of searching for 8 weeks straight!. An amazing achievement.
Over 4 weeks, 317 nurdle hunts were completed in 23 countries. Nurdles were found in all but one – Indonesia was the only country to not find nurdles. However, nurdles have been found in previous nurdle hunts carried out in Indonesia earlier in the year. Nurdles were found for the first time in Japan, Oman and South Korea.
Is nurdle pollution on the rise?
As well as becoming more prevalent around the world, the results also show that nurdles are turning up in high amounts on beaches too, it’s estimated nurdle hunters found over a million nurdles in total around the world during the event. From Spain to Sri Lanka groups scoured beaches around the world to collect data on this important issue and 39% of the 317 hunts found 100 or more nurdles.
Join our nurdle network
Thank you to the amazing 63 organisations who participated in the hunt, and to everyone who searched, cleaned and raised awareness about this vital issue. Your efforts are critical in making this microplastic pollution problem more visible, helping to increase pressure on government and industry to step up and end nurdle loss.
Image taken by The Pearl Protectors, Sri Lanka. Throughout the Great Global Nurdle Hunt the Pearl Protectors hosted four nurdle hunts, with 259 volunteers. They collected an astonishing 35kg of nurdles. This is estimated to be 1.5 million nurdles.
Our growing nurdle network allows organisations to share knowledge and expertise on solutions, bringing us all closer to stopping global nurdle pollution for good. In 2022 organisations have been coming together to draw attention to nurdles around the world and prevent further pollution. If you would like to learn more about nurdle pollution and solutions visit our new Nurdle Information Hub for NGOs and community groups: https://hub.nurdlehunt.org/