Nurdle-polluted North East beaches likely to miss out on Blue Flag awards
Written by Jonny Thompson on 1st October 2026
Longsands Beach, Tynemouth – one of five North East beaches awarded a Blue Flag in 2026.
North East beaches affected by the Port of Tyne plastic nurdle spill are likely to miss out on next year’s Blue Flag Awards.
Keep Britain Tidy (KBT), the organisation which administers the awards in the UK, have said that plastic pollution being found on local beaches would almost certainly mean they wouldn’t be awarded a Blue Flag.
A KBT spokesman said: “Without knowing the full situation, it would very likely generate public complaints and negative media interest relating to Blue Flag if the beaches impacted by plastics pollution were awarded.”
Nurdles are tiny pieces of plastic, usually about the size of a lentil, used as the raw material for making plastic products.
They have been regularly washing up along the North East coastline after 18 tonnes of them were spilled into the Tyne and washed out to sea in July, after a collision between a Port of Tyne crane and a cargo ship.
The Port of Tyne said it was launching a clean-up operation involving hand-held vacuums.
Roker beach: nurdle pollution may rule it out of the Blue Flag awards next year.
Scientific advice released yesterday suggests that only around 28% of those nurdles have now been recovered but it’s likely the remainder have been washed out to sea, making recovery difficult.
Those nurdles are expected to be washed onto the coastline in large numbers, depending on the changing tides and weather conditions, prompting concerns that North East beaches would not remain plastic-free, which is a key requirement of the Blue Flag criteria.
Blue Flag is an internationally recognised status awarded to beaches that meet the highest standards for water quality, environmental management and safety.
There were 61 Blue Flag beaches named across England in 2026, with five on the North East coast, including Tynemouth Longsands, Roker beach and Blyth South beach.
North Tyneside councillor Tom Bailey, a prominent figure in the volunteer clean-up operation, blames his council for failings in the tidy-up campaign.
Coun Bailey said: “We should be seeing greater accountability. If we want to keep these flags flying there should be better communication between the council and volunteers.
“Will things improve? Will they get better? Or will we just be carrying on the way we are?”
