'The best response I’ve seen to pellet spills' - South Shields clean-up group give plastic update and tide warning
Experts behind the South Shields plastic clean up have updated volunteers on their efforts.
The environmental group supporting North East councils with cleaning beaches of plastic pellets has issued an update as volunteer efforts step up.
Nurdle arrived after pellets, also known as nurdles, began washing up in coastal areas after a ship collision at the Port of Tyne.
South Tyneside Council estimates suggest 25 tonnes of plastic was spilled into the sea.
The specialist clean-up team arrived in the North East on Thursday, July 23 and are now working across four beaches to clear plastic.
This week South Tyneside Council issued advice to residents wanting to help the clean-up work.
In their latest update they have praised the efforts from locals while telling the public why the operation may shift over the coming days.
An update posted to social media reads: “There are still nurdles absolutely everywhere up the River Tyne. This cleanup is still a long way from being done!
“We have three nurdle machines covering four beaches daily, a huge volunteer push tackling beaches outside the harbour wall, and specialist marine salvagers Briggs tackling some North Tyneside beaches.
“We’re all doing so well, this cleanup is by far the best response I’ve seen to pellet spills.
“We (Nurdle) have a lot more kit this year and are so much better prepared, the local people are out in force with hundreds of sieving bags, and the Briggs staff have come up with some great quick methods to clean and recover the pellets using water.
“But until the source of the pollution is cleaned up we are all still needed on these beaches.
“There’s a big push for cleanups on spring tides this weekend, but even after that we’re going to need help daily as the river is just leaking nurdles into the environment.
“Does anyone have any photos and videos of the river so that we can start building a map? Please send them through to us it would be great to get some sort of idea on how many we expect to be washing out in the future.”
Spring tides are movements where tides are much higher and much lower than usual due to the position of the, earth sun and moon.