BGSU scientists conducting unique freshwater research into Lake Erie plastic pollution

The project aims to quantify the effect of chemicals leaching into the Lake from spillage of pre-production plastic

Lake Erie is a transportation hub for plastic – but the water system’s exposure to tiny bits of pre-production plastics, called nurdles, remains largely unknown.

Scientists from Bowling Green State University’s Center for Great Lakes and Watershed Studies are conducting a research project to find out the possible large effects of a microscopic problem that impacts Ohio’s greatest natural resource.

Funded by a $200,000 grant from Ohio Sea Grant and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a research team led by Dr. Chris Ward, an assistant professor in the BGSU Biological Sciences Department, is studying how pre-production plastics can leach chemicals when they find their way into water systems. Nurdles are the first stage of making common plastics like consumer bottles or PVC piping, but they’re smaller than a Tic-Tac, making them easily and commonly lost in transport.

“They’re essentially straight from the factory – the building blocks for making consumer plastics like bottles or plastics you see in your everyday life,” Ward said. “If there’s a spill of these pellets, which frequently occurs, and they’re introduced to water, the chemicals inside the pellets can dissolve, leave the plastic itself and go into the surrounding water.”

What BGSU scientists are out to learn is the greater scope of the issue.

While plastic pollution, in particular the proliferation of microplastics, has become commonly known as it relates to oceans, the BGSU team hopes to provide information about the water system upon which Ohio relies.

Under the guidance of Ward and Dr. James Metcalf, the Hollingsworth Smith Endowed Chair in Biological Sciences, BGSU students also will be playing critical roles in both the collection and analysis of data.

Ashlynn Malloy, a biological sciences graduate student from Indianapolis who is studying the effects of plastic leachates on zooplankton, said understanding the issue close to home is at the heart of the project.

“The United Nations recently ranked plastic pollution as the second-largest threat to the environment, and all of our drinking water comes from freshwater systems,” Malloy said. “With this research being centered around marine ecosystems, looking at the potential effects pre-production plastic has within Lake Erie is going back to the central idea: This is what we’re all drinking.”

By understanding the role of leaching from pre-production plastics, the science behind the project will provide a window into a world largely invisible to the human eye.

When nurdles reach a water system, the possibility of chemicals leaching into the water – some of which are classified as “forever chemicals” that do not break down easily in nature – cannot be seen or otherwise observed.

Choosing to study pre-production plastic, however, will give BGSU scientists a unique perspective on the larger discussion around plastic pollution in water. Gillian Champoir, a biological sciences graduate student from Cleveland, said opting to study pre-production plastic for the project will create a valuable data set on a freshwater system.

“Microplastics have become a big topic because we create so much waste that ends up in water systems, but a lot of research has been put into saltwater rather than freshwater,” Champoir said. “We get a lot of economic revenue here in Ohio and have a big recreation component from Lake Erie. The lake is important to everybody, and it’s important to keep our state liquid, pun intended.”

The research also will make use of the University’s newest mass spectrometer, acquired in 2024.

Doctoral student Zach Morris ’15, of Lima, Ohio, will play a starring role in the analysis portion of the project by using the mass spectrometer to quantify the invisible world of plastic leakage into freshwater.

The instrument will allow scientists to analyze microscopic samples to paint a fuller picture of the effect of pre-production plastic on Lake Erie.

“That is going to be a major part of this project, so my job is to see what leachates we can detect and what classes of them are present in the samples,” Morris said. “There is more research done on post-production plastics, but we might find completely different classes of molecules in pre-production leachates. It will also help us determine what concentration these molecules can leak – there are all kinds of directions this project could go.”

Through deeper understanding of plastic pollution, Ward said the team hopes to gain critical information about a vital part of everyday life in northwestern Ohio and beyond.

“Access to this seemingly bottomless source of freshwater is what makes the Great Lakes so special,” Ward said. “Our part of Ohio has fresh water, it has a highly productive fishery and our economies are tied to agriculture, which is obviously dependent on water.

“By identifying the sources of leachates or microplastics themselves, we can start to discuss actual actions we can take as individuals to mitigate our exposure and protect our Great Lake.”