Plastic does not go away. It is filling not only our landfills but also our oceans.

There is now, by weight, 30 times more plastic than plankton in the north Pacific “garbage patch.” This is five times more plastic than Algalita teams had found in 1999. What will the oceans look like in another ten years? What will happen to the aquatic food chain as its base is being replaced by plastic?Chemicals from plastic are also being found in our food, and in our bodies.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a report showing that 93% of of 2,517 Americans tested had bisphenol-A (an artificial estrogen linked together to form polycarbonate plastic) in their urine. The highest levels were found in children.

NoNurdles.com is dedicated to raising awareness about the adverse public health and environmental impacts of plastic. While plastic has brought many conveniences to my life (such as this computer), and has certain vital uses (some types of medical supplies, for example), single-use, convenience products such as plastic shopping bags and superfluous plastic product packaging, are more difficult to justify. Very little plastic is actually recycled. Plastic breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces but remains chemically intact in the environment, posing a danger to wildlife. Plastic resin micro-pellets, also called nurdles, for example, are now filling the oceans (by weight, one area of the Pacific that was sampled had six times more plastic than plankton). Nurdles are mistaken for food by many marine species, and thus are entering our food chain. Plastic is more directly introduced into the human food chain when it is fed to feedlot cows (as artificial roughage) or is used in food packaging. Bisphenol-A, a synthetic estrogen, is the building block of #7 polycarbonate plastics, used to make Nalgene water bottles and many baby bottles, among other products. It is also part of the epoxy resin that lines most food cans. Even some tea bags contain plastic. The safety of many chemicals used in the manufacture of plastics (not only bisphenol-A but also phthalates, flame retardants, etc.) has been called into question.