Story perspectives
Wind Orca spill releases 1 billion plastic pellets into Tyne
By Drooid · · How we work
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Story summary
- A spill released about 18 tonnes of plastic nurdles into the River Tyne on 19 July.
- The accident involved the wind turbine vessel Wind Orca, a container ship, and a collapsed gantry crane.
- Approximately one billion lentil-sized pellets entered the water.
- By end-September roughly 28% of the pellets had been recovered.
- Pellets washed ashore from Northumberland to North Yorkshire and Denmark, while long-term wildlife effects remain unknown.