‘Take up the offer’ - Campaigners call on the Port of Tyne to allow them to help with the nurdles clean up
Environmental campaigners have called on the Port of Tyne to allow them to help clean nurdles out of the river.
South Tyneside environmental campaigners have delivered an open letter to the Port of Tyne as they seek permission to help remove nurdles from the River Tyne.
It follows around one billion plastic pellets spilling into the river following a ship collision and crane collapse at the Port on Sunday, July 19.
Since then, the nurdles have been washing up on beaches along the North East coast - with professionals and volunteers working tirelessly to clean them up.
An open letter was hand-delivered to Matt Beeton, Port of Tyne CEO, on Monday, August 3, which requests for trained volunteers to help with the clean up on the river.
‘The Port of Tyne needs more people’
Colin Porter, from South Shields, hopes that Mr Beeton will consider the request and urged members of the public to continue helping along the seafront.
He said: “We’re all South Tyneside nurdle clean up campaigners but it isn’t just us, there has been hundreds on South Shields’ beaches cleaning up nurdles morning and night.
“It’s an ongoing task that feels never ending and until we stop the nurdles coming out of the river, it’s going to keep going on and on.
“The Port of Tyne needs more people on the river helping with the clean up - at the moment, it is inadequate.
“So we need as many people to come down to the beaches after high tide to keep cleaning up the nurdles until those on the river get their house in order.”
‘Take up the offer’
Anne Blair-Vincent, who is also from South Shields, reiterated the calls for Mr Beeton to take up the offer of volunteer help.
She commented: “I’d like to see the Port of Tyne to take up the offer for trained volunteers to assist because this is not going away anytime soon.
“Everybody wants to see as many of these awful things as possible collected from the river because at the moment, we don’t know if they are still being released.
“It is an environment disaster that could have been avoided with contingency plans so we need the Port to coordinate and engage with local people who care and want to do something.
“Every single nurdle we pick up is not going to end up in a bird or a fish.”
Port of Tyne looks to allow volunteers to help
Mr Beeton has stated that the Port is working on allowing the public to help with the clean up and pledged that the volunteers will play a “major role” in deciding the plans.
He stated: “It was fantastic to spend a couple of hours with volunteers to share ideas, answer questions and begin a dialogue that will be so important as we all come together in the continued clean up operation.
“It has been a complex and difficult two weeks, and I am proud of our staff for the way they have responded to what was a traumatic event.
“It was great to speak to local people to share what happened and help them understand how we responded and why.
“Now that the salvage operation has passed a critical stage, we are putting plans in place to invite the community to help in a safe and managed way.
“The solution will be in conversation with volunteers who will play a major role in deciding what we do and how we do it, as well as taking part in the continued clean up.”
You can view the full open letter by clicking here.