The following article was submitted by Susie Menk, a Youth Services Librarian at the Manitowoc Public Library.
Manitowoc Public Library is pleased to offer a Beach Cleanup event in conjunction with our Nurdle Patrol program. September 17th is National Coastal Cleanup Day and we are happy to be joining this movement.
Nurdles are the raw plastic pellets that manufacturers use to make plastic products. The Nurdle Patrol program focuses on looking for and recording nurdle locations along our lakeshore. However, if we are going to be picking up nurdles, we might as well pick up all the trash, right?!
Manitowoc Public Library is working on a year-long Nurdle Patrol program as part of a Citizen Science project. We had our kick-off a few weeks ago and this beach cleanup is the next event in our program. These plastic pellets are getting into our waters and creating environmental issues. Chemicals from the plastics are seeping-out and aquatic animals that ingest nurdles are dying.
Our program focuses on finding and reporting any nurdle contamination in our section of Lake Michigan. Scientists use everyday citizens like us to report data so they can continue their research and have numbers to push for manufacturing companies to be more responsible in controlling nurdle pollution. While the chances of locating nurdles along Lake Michigan are small, for these scientists no data is still data. It’s important that we record our findings to help scientists pinpoint how widespread the nurdle problem is.
As part of our Nurdle Patrol program, MPL is offering pouches and vials to collect nurdles along with buttons to wear during beach cleanup days. If you don’t have your Nurdle pouch, please stop by the desk in Youth Services to pick one up and get more information about our Nurdle Patrol program.
Since National Coastal Cleanup Day is Saturday, September 17, we here in Manitowoc want to do our part. There are several different groups doing beach cleanups that day, so feel free to join any one of them. Manitowoc Public Library—along with our partners Wisconsin Maritime Museum and UW-Green Bay Manitowoc Campus—will be hosting a beach cleanup behind Lincoln High School on September 17 beginning at 9 AM. We ask that you please register of you plan on attending as the event has limited space. Interested parties can find the registration link on the Nurdle Patrol landing page of Manitowoc Public Library’s website—www.manitowoclibrary.org/event/nurdle-beach.
Susie Menk
Once you arrive at the beach, we will go through a quick training on what to look for and then hand out garbage bags and gloves for non-Nurdle trash collection. Please bring along your Nurdle Patrol pouches if you have them. We will have pouches available for those who don’t have one.
We will have a sign-in sheet for those that participate. At the end of the beach cleanup, we will be having a raffle drawing and three lucky people will win prizes donated by the Library and the Museum!
We hope that you’ll be able to join us for this event as we give back to our community and make our lakeshore a better place for future generations.
