Avoid treading nurdles into the sand as best you can.

From community organiser guidance — methods are also discussed on the WhatsApp group.

1. 1

   Get out after high tide, every day if you can, and focus on clearing nurdles left at the high tide line.

2. 2

   DON'T STEP ON THE NURDLES! (We can't emphasise this enough)

3. 3

   Wear gloves (and wash your hands when you're finished).

4. 4

   Use sweeping brushes and/or dustpan and brush to collect the nurdles (see tips on techniques below).

5. 5

   If possible/appropriate, leave the filtering to more experienced volunteers and focus on collecting.

6. 6

   Bag nurdles into heavy-duty bin bags, label with 'volunteer collected', secure and leave at closest council-recommended collection point. (Report bags that are not at a collection point.)

   See collection points on Beaches

• Scrape nurdles up from wet sand

  1. Use a flat broom, back of rake or even plank of wood
  2. Carefully scrape up the lines of nurdles
  3. Sweep up nurdles and place in labelled bin bag

  

• Mesh filter bag method

  1. Scoop the top layer of sand and nurdles with a spade.
  2. Put the mix into a mesh bag and wash it in seawater so sand falls through and nurdles stay in the bag.
  3. Empty nurdles into a strong bin bag labelled as a volunteer collection.

  Do not overload the bags - wet sand is heavy, and will stretch even the strongest mesh. Better to do two trips with smaller loads down to the waterline, than one trip which stretches a bag out.

  Use small bags for carrying directly into the surf, bigger bags for fitting over a trug or bucket.

  If you find Nurdles are passing through mesh bags, use those bags for seaweed capture instead, stretched over a bucket

  

  

• Bucket and sieve method

  1. Collect a bucket of sea water.
  2. Shovel sand (or seaweed) and nurdles mix into the bucket.
  3. When the nurdles float to the top, scoop them off with a sieve.
  4. Add the nurdles to a strong bin bag.
  5. When your bucket is full of sand, empty and refill with sea water.
  6. Shaking the seaweed releases the nurdles — then scoop them up and remove the sand.

  

• Sift nurdles in dry sand with mesh bag

• Keep work manageable

  Draw a square in the sand to work on, complete it, move on and repeat. Keeps the task bitesize and measurable.

  

• Mesh bag tutorial

  This quick video provides guidance on sewing mesh bags to filter out the sand and seawater, leaving the plastic pellets in the bag. We have a dedicated WhatsApp group for volunteers sewing mesh bags.

  Mesh bag WhatsApp group