Andy Dinsdale (who organises beach cleans locally) and his volunteers once again scoured local beaches in January helping with the nurdle hunt - but what is a nurdle one might well ask.
Andy explains: "Nurdles are plastic pellets used by industry to make nearly all our plastic products. Accidental spills result in large numbers of nurdles being washed out to sea.
"At sea, nurdles can attract and concentrate background pollutants to toxic levels. Mistaken for food by many animals, nurdles and the toxins coating them can then enter the food chain." To separate the nurdles from the sand Andy explained "I collect shovel loads of nurdles, add water, stir and then scoop off the floating organic/plastic mix (nurdle soup!) - and the sand can then go back to the beach".
But we also found during the clean-up that the nurdles were outnumbered by thousands of bio beads and they can cause problems too - and may get washed out with sewage.
As you can see from the picture of the plastic tendrils (from dead balloons) there is also other pollution detrimental to sea life which individuals are responsible for.
For more information about nurdles or what you can find on the beach, or more clean up walks in February, March and April, email: strandliner@me.com
Photos: Andy Dinsdale
