Beachgoers are being urged to prevent a plastics “nightmare” on the region’s coast as the nurdle clear-up continues. As efforts by both volunteers and local authority staff continue to clear beaches of small plastic pellets known as nurdles, the public is being reminded to maintain good ecological habits at all times.
The move comes following a collision at the Port of Tyne on 19 August, resulting in tonnes of plastic balls spilling into the Tyne and washing up throughout the North East’s coastline.
The pellets have sparked controversy for weeks, and the full extent of the spill could take years to understand, according to the Tyne Rivers Trust. Animals have also been reportedly spotted eating the pellets, mistaking them for food.
Tynemouth councillor Tom Bailey said: “We’re launching a campaign to encourage people to reduce the amount of plastic they bring to the beach and to please take their litter home with them. We’ve got hundreds of local volunteers who’ve been helping us recover from the Tyne nurdle spill, collecting these pellets sometimes on their hands and knees on the beaches.
“We really just need a change in attitude from everyone else coming to the beaches. The nightmare scenario here is that we collect 600 of these pellets, they get recycled into a plastic bottle, and then it’s back on the beach in a month’s time, breaking down into microplastics – we’ve lost before we’ve started.”
The campaign will run throughout the season on social media and local touch-points, with educational graphics, community clean-up reminders, and other messages aimed at Tynemouth’s visitors. The public is also being urged to plan and use reusable water bottles.
Tynemouth MP Sir Alan Campbell added: “I just want to say thank you to all the volunteers who stepped up during the nurdle spillage. It’s really important that the community stepped up in the way they did.
“There are important lessons to learn from what’s happened, not least around the legislation and the way that plastics are transported and packaged.”
“There’s also a wider issue which the campaign leans into, which is about plastic along our beautiful coastline and along our rivers. Protecting our environment is so important, which is why this campaign is so important.”
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