nurd
/nɜrd/
noun
- A small, usually round or cylindrical piece of plastic or other material used as a raw material in manufacturing, especially in injection molding.
- Workers poured the tiny green nurds into the hopper of the injection molding machine.
- A single nurd can be the starting point for thousands of plastic bottles.
- The factory received a shipment of plastic nurds to be melted and molded into toys.
- A small, often brightly colored pellet of plastic that is a source of microplastic pollution in the environment.
- The nurd is a major contributor to ocean microplastic pollution.
- Scientists are studying how marine animals mistake nurds for food.
- Volunteers cleaned up thousands of plastic nurds from the beach after the spill.