North East MP calls for tougher laws on nurdle transportation
The South Shields MP is calling on the government to introduce tougher laws on the transportation of plastic pellets known as nurdles.
It is following a collision at the Port of Tyne in July where tonnes of the small plastic pellets poured into the River Tyne.
Campaigners say the nurdles are continuing to wash up along the North East coastline and have also been reported within the tidal river system.
Emma Lewell, Labour MP for South Shields, said: "In the EU, there are stronger laws around the shipping, storage, handling and transportation of these plastic pellets. There's nothing like that in the UK, it's a bit more lax.
"What this accident has shown is that if the legislation had been tighter, we might not have had as much of an environmental disaster as what we've had in the North East. The accident happened in my patch in South Shields. I know the council and the port have been working flat out and volunteers.
"There are people at the port who were hurt and so we need to remember this was an accident. But if the legislation had been tighter and regulations, we might not have as many of these nurdles on our beaches.
"I don't know if people really understand that this is going to be potentially over a year to clean these up and these pellets are going to be around for years to come, which is why I've also asked the Secretary of State if we can have some proper monitoring in place.
"At the moment we're in the clean-up phase, but we need that to be monitored on a regular basis to make sure that the pellets don't remain and that there's still a response there each time they wash up on our beach or in our rivers.
"We need that legislation tightening up."
Emma continued to say: "Nurdles are the most common source of microplastic pollution globally. Yet in the UK we don't have robust enough legislation around the storage, handling and transportation. This has happened in my patch. It could happen anywhere else where there's a port, anywhere else where these nurdles are being shipped around."