Nurdle Clean-Up: How to Keep Helping Along the North East Coast
Over the past few months, we’ve joined the huge community effort to remove plastic nurdles from beaches along our coastline following the spill in the River Tyne.
Our organised Yoga x Life beach cleans have been a very small part of a much bigger response, but it has been brilliant to see so many of you come along, get your hands dirty and discover just how much difference a group of people with some sieves, gloves and a couple of hours can make.
As we head towards winter, we’re not going to continue putting regular YxL beach cleans into the calendar.
That isn't because the work is finished. Far from it.
Nurdles are still being found across a huge stretch of coastline, while the large-scale official and contracted response has begun to scale back. Community volunteers have become an increasingly important part of the ongoing effort.
The difficulty for us is simply practical. Tides, weather and conditions become much harder to confidently predict far enough in advance to organise studio outings.
The good news is that you don't need to wait for us to organise one.
The Nurdle Hub
A brilliant community resource has developed around the clean-up:
Nurdle Hub NE
It brings together the latest information on affected beaches, where help is needed, equipment locations, collection methods, local groups and current updates.
It’s community-run rather than an official council or emergency-service resource, so always check the latest guidance before heading out.
Join your local WhatsApp group
Probably the easiest way to continue helping is to join the WhatsApp community for the beach or area closest to you.
Rather than needing a big organised clean-up day, these groups allow local volunteers to share what they're seeing, where nurdles are appearing and when people are heading down.
That means you can simply tag along when something is happening near you.
The Nurdle Hub will direct you towards the appropriate group for your local beach.
You don't necessarily need your own equipment
One of the things that has developed since the early days of the response is a network of NEST equipment points along parts of the coastline.
Depending on location and availability, these can contain things like mesh sieves, collection bags, gloves, buckets and brushes for volunteers to borrow. Stock varies, so check the Nurdle Hub before travelling and please return anything you borrow clean and ready for the next person.
The Hub currently lists beach information and equipment or collection points across North and South Tyneside, including areas around Whitley Bay, Cullercoats, Fish Quay and Littlehaven.
So even if you don't own a sieve, there may well be everything you need waiting close to the beach.
If you are collecting independently
The exact advice can change, so always check the latest guidance on the Nurdle Hub before setting out, as well as checking the weather and tides.
Current community guidance recommends useful equipment including gloves, wellies, buckets, dustpans and brushes, sieves or colanders, mesh bags and heavy-duty bin bags.
Try not to trample nurdles further into the sand while you're working. One particularly simple technique is to mark out a small square of beach, clear it properly and then move onto the next. It makes what can otherwise feel like an enormous task much more manageable.
Please also remember that we're trying to remove plastic without unnecessarily disturbing the habitat we're trying to protect. Leave as much seaweed in place as possible, replace rocks if you move them, avoid sensitive habitats and wildlife, and don't collect around seal haul-out sites without the appropriate guidance.
When you've finished, wash your hands properly with soap and clean running water before eating, drinking or touching your face.
Full collection and safety guidance is kept up to date on the Nurdle Hub.
What do I do with what I collect?
Don't assume ordinary litter disposal is appropriate.
At the time of writing, community guidance is to put collected material into heavy-duty bags, clearly label it as volunteer collected, and use the designated collection arrangements for the area. These arrangements can change, so check your local WhatsApp group and the Nurdle Hub for the latest information before disposing of anything.
You can also log your clean through the individual beach listings on the Hub, helping the wider community keep track of volunteer activity.
Why keep going?
The original spill is estimated to have released around 17 tonnes, or roughly one billion plastic pellets, into the Tyne. Nurdles have subsequently been reported across many miles of North East coastline.
Because they're so small, they are extraordinarily difficult to recover completely. They can continue moving between the sea and beaches for years, fragment into smaller microplastics and be mistaken for food by marine wildlife.
This is why a handful can sometimes feel slightly insignificant, but isn't.
Every nurdle removed is one that isn't going back into the sea.
Beyond picking them up
There are other ways to contribute too.
The Nurdle Hub includes ways to report nurdles and affected wildlife, information on the wider campaign, and routes for contacting elected representatives and supporting calls for longer-term action.
So if getting down onto a beach isn't possible for you, there are still ways to help.
Keep going without us
We’ll continue to support the response where we can, and we're certainly not ruling out another YxL outing when conditions make sense.
But one of the nicest outcomes of our own clean-ups would be if you no longer needed us to organise one for you.
Join your local WhatsApp group. Find the equipment point nearest to you. Keep an eye on the tides and community updates. Go with a friend, tag along with a local group or spend a little time helping whenever you're already at the coast.
There is still plenty of work to be done, but there is now a brilliant network of people and resources making it much easier to contribute.
Everything you need
For current beach information, local WhatsApp groups, equipment locations, collection advice, safety guidance, reporting and the latest updates, head to: