One of the UK's biggest spills of plastic pellets (or “nurdles”) is flooding the North East’s coastline. It could harm wildlife in the North Sea for decades.
Thousands of volunteers – including Friends of the Earth local action groups – are doing everything they can to clean up the nurdles before they wash out to pollute the sea forever.
But communities shouldn't have to clean up corporate pollution.
Animals can mistake nurdles for food, which can be fatal. And nurdles can last in the environment for decades, requiring recovery efforts far beyond what the community can do alone.
The government has promised to listen to the North. Local people have stepped up. Now it’s time for the government to do the same.
Tell Andy Burnham to coordinate an emergency response immediately and hold the companies involved accountable for every penny of environmental recovery.