More than 100 volunteers headed for Whitley Bay Beach to clean up nurdles that have been washing up since a collision on the River Tyne nine days ago. The small plastic pellets, which are used to make plastic products such as bottles, have been washing up on the region's shoreline after a collision between the Wind Orca and the BG Orange on Sunday, July 19.
Whitley Bay is one of a series of beaches where clean-ups have been co-ordinated, with volunteers bringing mesh bags, buckets, kitchen sieves and builders trugs to get the pellets off the sand. Councils have said that the pellets are a low risk to the public, but they are often eaten by birds and fish.
Community Effort
Volunteers, some of whom travelled from Newcastle to get involved in the clean-up, told ChronicleLive that the beach was a huge part of the community, and they wanted to keep it clean. Simon Laing, who was giving instructions on the best way to clean up nurdles, said: "We love the beaches, most of the people here come down multiple times per week. They bring their dogs there, they bring their kids here, this is our space and we want to look after it and keep it clean."
Helen Smith, of the Panama Swimming Club, added: "The club and the beach is a huge part of our community, it's really important for us to keep it clean. If people were leaving dog poo we'd be asking them to clean it up."
Official Response
Kim McGuinness thanked volunteers for their efforts this morning after Port of Tyne announced that remaining nurdles had been removed from containers on board the BG Orange. The North East mayor said: "There is still a huge amount of work to do to clean up our coastline and protect wildlife and its urgent. "I want to thank the volunteers who have been out cleaning these beaches and reasure them that we are making sure the ship owners contribute to this pollution emergency. My office will continue to work with councils to further support the clean-up operation."
