THE PLASTIC BEACH
As 42,000 join the Spring Clean, millions of toxic beads are picked up on stretch of Cornish coast just 100m long
IN A STARK illustration of the global scourge of litter, these ‘microplastic’ beads were all collected on a short stretch of Cornish beach.
Millions of the plastic lumps – known as nurdles or ‘mermaid’s tears’ – were gathered by sieving sand across just 100m of coastline.
The beads, which have also been found washed up at a nature reserve in Norfolk, are a hazard for fish, seabirds and other creatures who mistake them for food.
Many of the nurdles, smaller than 5mm in diameter, are likely to have been used in sewage works to break down waste.
Others will have been raw ingredients for plastic production which have fallen into the sea during transit.
Photographer Sam Hobson was commissioned by the WWF to take pictures of the sacks of beads on Tregantle Beach, Whitsand Bay, to show the huge extent of the pollution they cause.
Mr Hobson, 37, from Bristol, said that although the beach looks pristine from afar, when you start digging, ‘within two minutes’ your hands are full of nurdles.
And the detritus collected by the Rame Peninsula Beach Care group went far beyond microplastics… elsewhere on beaches in Whitsand Bay, plastic cutlery, hair combs and baby dummies had also washed up in their hundreds.
Had they not been collected, these throwaway items would have blighted the landscape for centuries – and threatened the lives of endangered species.
It comes after researchers from Fauna and Flora International (FFI) found hundreds of nurdles at Blakeney national nature reserve in Norfolk during a two- day sweep last month.
The area is home to around 3,000 newly-born seal pups, which are known to ingest microplastics, usually by eating prey that has consumed nurdles, FFI said.
An estimated 53billion nurdles end up in the oceans each year, according to the conservation charity.
Studies suggest microplastics can introduce chemical contaminants into marine animals’ bodies if ingested.
Dilyana Mihaylova, of FFI, said: ‘All companies that make, use and transport nurdles must take action to stop these microplastics polluting Britain’s beaches and damaging critical habitats for our iconic seal colonies.’
The Mail’s Turn the Tide on Plastic campaign has led calls for measures to stop the surge of waste poisoning our oceans. Now it is promoting Keep Britain Tidy’s Great British Spring Clean, which has also won support from Prince William, Theresa May and the United Nations
So far, 42,917 Mail readers have signed up to be part of the pick between March 22 and April 23 – and you can too, by simply going online to gbspringclean.org.