Nurdles are small industrial plastic pellets produced by petrochemical plants that serve as the building blocks for new plastic products. Nurdles can escape from chemical plants, factories, trains, and trucks during production and transportation. Because they are light enough to travel long distances through the air, Nurdles have been found in various waterbodies throughout the Midwest. For example, at least 50 to 60 nurdles each week have been found in a plastic trash trap on the Chicago River. Additionally, water samples taken from the Calumet, Des Plaines, Illinois and Rock rivers and the Mississippi between Dubuque, Iowa, and the Quad Cities all contained nurdles. Once deposited into the water, nurdles enter the food chain from fish when they mistake these tiny pellets for food.

Consequently, at the beginning of August, Gov. JB Pritzker signed into law a bill requiring companies that manufacture, use, or transport nurdles to report spills and create plans to prevent them from entering stormwater runoff.  Notably, lawmakers approved the legislation on votes of 69-33 in the House and 44-13 in the Senate. This makes Illinois the first state in the Great Lakes and Mississippi River watersheds to officially designate nurdles as pollution.

Similarly, at least seven states have adopted “extended producer responsibility” laws that require manufacturers to bankroll programs intended to reduce the use of plastic packing and improve the effectiveness of recycling. However, California arguably has the toughest state laws regulating plastic waste, including limits on microplastics in drinking water.

In addition to the new legislation for nurdles, Illinois also recently enacted other laws aimed at regulating plastics, including requiring bottle-filling stations at large event forums, prohibiting the distribution of mini-toiletry bottles at hotels, and allowing the use of non-plastic containers brought from home for takeout food. Illinois lawmakers are also now debating a bill that would ban single-use polystyrene food containers throughout Illinois, which already are prohibited in state office buildings.