The 2026 International Plastic Pellet Count shows the tiny plastic beads are polluting waterways all over the world.
The report released Tuesday said over 1 million so-called "nurdles" were found, with over 15,000 across California.
“We do the count as a way to show this really is a problem," Jenn Engstrom said. "They’re clear so they can really easily blend into the sand along beaches so you often don't know they’re there.”
Engstrom directs the CALPIRG Education Fund, which took part in the count.
In May, she said over 1,000 volunteers combed sites around railways, beaches and other waterways in six countries, counting and removing the pollutants.
“These are tiny bead-like pieces of plastic that are the raw material for plastic items," she said. "So these are created and shipped all over the country to be melted down and molded into plastic bottles and bags and countless other plastic items.”
The count found a 22% increase in nurdles from the first tally in 2025.
“They’re often treated with chemicals or can absorb chemicals that can then end up in our fish because they are consumed by marine animals,” Engstrom said. ”And can ultimately get into our own bodies through microplastic pollution in our drinking water.”
Engstrom said nurdle pollution tends to accumulate near sites where pellets are manufactured, used, or transported — including from spillage during rail transport.
Patrick McDonough, San Diego Coastkeeper’s senior staff attorney, took part in the count in Carlsbad, near a rail line.
“The more we looked along the railroad lines, especially in North County (San Diego) where there are a lot of our protected lagoon habitats, and those rail lines cross directly over those lagoons. We noticed nurdles almost everywhere we looked,” McDonough said.
He said nurdles end up on the shores of waterways because most of them float, but they can be hard to spot as they’re about the size of a lentil.
“These things remain in the water and in the ocean for potentially hundreds or even thousands of years and they end up all over the globe,” he said.
McDonough said in February his organization, North County Transit District and the Coastal Environmental Rights Foundation reached a resolution with BNSF Railway over the spillage of plastic pellets during transport. It resulted in new nationwide protocols requiring the proper sealing of both loaded and unloaded rail cars that transport pellets.
He said his organization is planning another independent count this July.
