‘There’s no nurdle fairy’: thousands mobilise to clean up plastic spillage in north-east England

Volunteers painstakingly gather plastic pellets washing up on beaches after ship collision on 19 July

“You’ve got a local community that really cares about the coastline,” said Alice Laverty, reflecting on the huge army of volunteers who had taken to crisis-hit beaches in north-east England with passion and only the most basic tools. “They’ve all got a dustpan, a brush, a bucket, a kitchen sieve.”

On beaches from Cambois in Northumberland to Seaburn on Wearside, up to 2,000 dedicated volunteers have been painstakingly sifting through sand to find tiny, lentil-sized pellets of plastic.

The pellets, called nurdles, are being washed up on beaches after a ship collision on 19 July at the Port of Tyne, South Shields, led to a billion of them spilling into the water. Campaigners estimate there was up to 25 tonnes of them.

The spillage has prompted anger and protests, and the north-east mayor, Kim McGuinness, has promised to make sure shipowners contribute to what she said was a “pollution emergency”.

Since the collision, the nurdles have washed up on numerous beaches in the north-east. Some days, nurdle drifts have been like soup, visibly scarring the landscape. Other days, people have had to get down on their hands and knees to find them, but when they do, they’re there.

Laverty, a Whitley Bay bookshop owner, was one of the first to respond. “I saw the horrendous pictures of millions of them floating down the Tyne and I went to the beach in the evening,” she said. “I was literally the only person on the beach with a dustpan and brush and I could see people looking at me going … what is she doing?”

Helped by WhatsApp and social media, there is now a more organised army of volunteers gathering at beaches in the mornings and evenings to help with the cleanup.

It is a race against the tides and the only way for volunteers to do it is by painstakingly sifting the sand or shaking seaweed. People have been drawing squares and cleaning the beach section by section.

“It becomes quite addictive,” Laverty said. “I can’t walk past a nurdle without picking it up, and I reckon most Whitley Bay residents will be exactly the same.”

She said a friend told her the story of Aphrodite punishing Psyche by mixing up different grains, seeds and lentils and setting her the impossible task of separating them by dawn. In the story, a sympathetic army of ants comes to the rescue. “Wouldn’t that be great,” she said.

The official advice from councils is not to handle the pellets, but Laverty said there was a greater cause. “There’s no nurdle fairy, this needs to be cleaned up now,” she said. “An official response with specialist equipment and trained staff takes time, and concerns about insurance and liability could further delay cleanup operations.”

At Whitley Bay beach, the Guardian talked to other volunteers determined to do their bit. Helen Charlton, a business academic from Cramlington, said: “This is our home. I’m north-east born and bred and I’m incredibly proud of this region and I’m incredibly proud of the industry and commerce here as well. It’s not that we shouldn’t have shipping on the Tyne because we absolutely should. But the two have to coexist.”

Lou Shackleton, a life and work coach from Whitley Bay, said the nurdles brought multiple dangers. “Everything is interconnected. The people that are fishing need the fish to be there and healthy. The seals need the fish. I heard a boat broke down yesterday because of nurdles affecting the engine. It’s the summer holidays, there’ll be people in the sea, kids playing.

“I have a five-year-old, I don’t want him to be still finding nurdles on the beach in 10 years’ time.”

Amy Ash, a user experience designer, has created a web app to help organise and mobilise the volunteers. “I surf, I swim, I’ve got two kids,” she said. “It is absolutely devastating that these things are on the beach. I really do not want this to be forgotten about.”

As well as the sweepers and sifters, dozens of volunteers have been sewing together mesh bags for collecting the nurdles using scaffolding fabric.

Nurdles are tiny disc-shaped plastic pellets that act as the raw material to manufacture most plastic products. Animals can easily mistake them for food with deadly consequences, campaigners say.

The environmental charity Fidra, which works to end plastic and chemical pollution, says nurdles are a global problem. Last year it found plastic nurdles at 84% of the UK’s sites of special scientific interest.

The Port of Tyne, HM Coastguard, the Environment Agency, local councils and specialist contractors are all involved in what has been called “a coordinated multi-agency effort” to clean up after the spill.

By Sunday, about 3,000 volunteer hours had been logged and an estimated 285kg of nurdles had been recovered by the “people’s army”. An open letter is due to be sent on Monday calling for trained local teams to be allowed to help clear nurdles directly from the rivers, not just the beaches.