Cleaning plastic from beaches after sea collision could take weeks, says council

An operation to remove plastic pellets which have washed up on Norfolk beaches following a ship collision in the North Sea could take weeks, a council has said.

King’s Lynn and West Norfolk Council said it began its operation on Wednesday and is initially focusing on a stretch of beaches between Holme-next-the-Sea and Old Hunstanton.

Thousands of plastic “nurdles” were washed into the sea on March 10 when the container ship Solong crashed into the anchored tanker Stena Immaculate about 12 miles off the coast of East Yorkshire, leaving one man missing, presumed dead.

Although the nurdles are not toxic they are a risk to wildlife if ingested.

On Thursday, the council said all of the plastic along the initial stretch has been pushed back so it does not wash back out to sea.

It said an all-terrain vehicle will be used to access the beach and remove the larger pieces.

A team, which includes a beachmaster and seven operational council staff, is focusing initially on removing the larger burnt pieces of plastic from the beaches as the coastguard has been removing suspended nurdles from the water, it added.

“Please bear with us as this clean-up operation will likely take a few weeks and further waste might wash up during that time.”

Councillor Sandra Squire, cabinet member for environment and coastal, said: “Our priority as a council is to clean up this plastic pollution from our beaches for people and wildlife.

“We ask that residents and visitors who are enjoying our beaches continue to take care with anything that you come across on the beach.

“Our clean-up team are wearing gloves and using litter pickers as a reasonable precaution because they’re handling waste.”

The National Trust said nurdles have begun to appear on Brancaster Beach, in Norfolk, and the RSPB confirmed they have washed up at the charity’s reserve at nearby Titchwell.

Fidra, the anti-pollution charity which runs The Great Nurdle Hunt, called the release of the pellets an “environmental crisis”.

It said: “Nurdles can leach, transport and adsorb harmful chemicals and pathogens in the environment creating a toxic cocktail, while microplastic fragments released as nurdles age can enter human and animal tissues disrupting their function.

“England’s east coast is home to a diverse range of marine and birdlife, with multiple crucial protected areas located along the coastline, with The Wash identified as an internationally important conservation area and home to diverse wildlife.

“Nurdle pollution poses a major risk to wildlife along this coastline and beyond.”

The company which owns the Solong has said that no containers holding plastic nurdles are thought to have been lost over the side of the ship.

It said the pellets are believed to have been released from some of the smaller containers during the intense fires which took a week to bring under control.

Chief Coastguard Paddy O’Callaghan said the Solong and Stena Immaculate remain stable and salvage operations are continuing.

Mr O’Callaghan said the coastguard is supporting local authorities with nurdle retrieval in Norfolk and Lincolnshire.

He said the maritime incident has moved into the recovery phase and has now been downgraded from a major incident.

But he added: “HM Coastguard will however continue to support the salvage and multiagency retrieval operations while keeping the overall situation under review.”

A total of 36 people were rescued from the ships following the collision but a sailor from the Solong – named as 38-year-old Filipino national Mark Angelo Pernia – is missing and presumed dead.

The Solong’s captain, Vladimir Motin, 59, of St Petersburg, Russia, appeared at Hull Magistrates’ Court on Saturday morning charged with gross negligence manslaughter and was remanded in custody.