Councillor calls for ‘volunteer plan’ to help with the South Tyneside nurdles clean up
A South Tyneside Green Party councillor is calling on the council to allow members of the public to help with the nurdle clean up operation.
A councillor is urging South Tyneside Council to allow members of the public to help clean up nurdles along the borough’s coastline.
Cllr Matt Blair, of the West Park ward, is calling on the local authority to grant permission for volunteers to help out due to how quickly the plastic pellets, known as ‘nurdles’, are spreading.
The clean up operation got underway last week after an estimated one billion plastic pellets spilled into the River Tyne following a ship collision and crane collapse at the Port of Tyne on Sunday, July 19.
The nurdles, which are the raw material used for manufacturing plastics, have since been washing up on beaches across the North East.
‘People just want to protect their coastline’
Cllr Blair is calling for a “proper volunteer” plan to be put in place to work alongside specialist teams in an effort speed up the removal of the nurdles from the South Tyneside coastline.
He said: “Having now seen the scale of the nurdle contamination firsthand, I don’t think the clean-up is moving quickly enough to match how widely these pellets have spread.
“The Street Scene team and specialist crews deserve real credit for getting out quickly and working hard, but a small number of machines cannot cover miles of coastline on their own.
“Each machine also has to be emptied repeatedly, so there is an obvious limit to how much ground they can cover.
“There are plenty of local people willing to help.
“With gloves, sieves, clear instructions, designated areas and central collection points where everything could still be weighed and recorded, properly coordinated volunteer teams could have increased the pace of the clean-up and could still make a real difference.
“Nobody wants to get in the way of the professionals.
“People just want to protect their coastline, and that willingness should have been harnessed much sooner.
“The longer these nurdles remain on the beaches, the more likely they are to be buried, washed further along the coast or eaten by wildlife.
“We need a proper volunteer plan now, not once the specialist teams have moved on.”
‘Wait for organised guidance’
South Tyneside Council has called in professional help to help deal with the nurdles and is asking members of the public to “wait for organised guidance” ahead of members of the public being allowed to help with the clean up.
The local authority’s website states: “For now, we are asking people not to undertake clean-up activities alone and to wait for organised guidance.
“The Council is grateful for offers of support but is asking people not to carry out clean-up activities alone while the response is being coordinated.
“The Council needs to make sure people follow safety precautions, avoid creating additional issues, and ensure collected material is weighed and recorded so the environmental impact can be understood.
“The Council is looking at ways to organise volunteer clean-up sessions and will share more information when guidance is available.”
Full details on South Tyneside Council’s response to the nurdle spill can be found at: https://www.southtyneside.gov.uk/31199.