During the early December spring tides, Joshua Beech and the team at Nurdle, experts in microplastics removal, have been working on Camber Sands using their vacuum machine to remove the plastic pellets polluting the beach. Working alongside them all along the strandline are Southern Water contractors who are using their mechanised sieves to separate the beads from the seaweed, sand and other natural materials.
The very high tides wash up the bio-beads still at sea and expose those buried in the sand by refloating them and pushing them higher up the beach. According to Joshua Beech, the founder of Nurdle, most of the pollution is in the top 10 centimetre layer of sand, with further beads that have been buried about 15 centimetres deep.
Southern Water are funding three more Nurdle machines which are now being built, to be used for two weeks a month during future spring tides. They are also building a new machine, pulled by a tractor, to recover the deeper buried beads and those blown by the wind along the surface. This will only be used in dry weather, but it will be able to be used in areas where the Nurdle machines cannot go.
When Nurdle consider over 90% of the beads have been removed they will donate a Nurdle machine to Rother District Council. They will then become involved again after storms or high tides with their three machines, within 24 hours, if Rother District Council and other organisations such as Strandliners request their help.
Rother District Council who are coordinating the clean-up of the plastic pellets has announced that for the time being volunteers are no longer required to help in the clean-up.
Image Credits: Juliet Duff .