The Great Nurdle Hunt!

Scottish Sea Champions are taking part in the "The Great Nurdle Hunt" to find out how widespread "nurdle" pollution is around the coast of the Forth. 

What on earth is a nurdle?

Nurdles are plastic pellets, about the size of a lentil, that are the raw material used to make nearly all plastic objects. They get into our seas through accidental spillage and mishandling by industry, where they are often mistaken for food by animals like seabirds fish and crustaceans.

Sea Champions Sarah Conner, Susie Burnet, Jackie Leeds, Jenny McAllister, Lesley Anderson, Margaret Harrison, Peter Stevens and Kimberley Hahn have been recording nurdles during their Beachwatch cleans around the Forth Estuary - a designated Special Protected Area largely because of the birds that live and breed around it, many of which have been shown to ingest plastic.

"The Great Nurdle Hunt" has been set up by a group of local residents concerned about the continuing presence of plastic pellets and other marine litter around the Forth.

 

Reporting nurdles is helping build up an evidence to show the local plastics industry the extent of the nurdle pollution.

 

Image: Clare McIntyre