Offenders help clear nurdles after major spill

Offenders have been clearing plastic nurdles from a beach as part of one of the region's largest environmental recovery efforts.

They were taking part in a community payback scheme at Newbiggin in Northumberland, removing the tiny plastic pellets after a major spill in the North Sea.

Volunteers and councils also took part in the clean-up on Thursday after an estimated one billion balls were lost when two vessels collided at the Port of Tyne in July.

Minister for Prisons, Probation and Reducing Reoffending, Catherine McKinnell said community payback was "punishment that works" because it helped reduce re-offending while giving something back to local communities.

One offender who was nearing the end of a 270-hour community service order said the clean up, about 20 miles (32km) from the port, was rewarding.

"It's quite satisfying because you've got a beautiful beach right there, and it was covered in plastic little nurdles," he said.

"[You] can go and clean it off and make your beach beautiful and clean."

Asked if the sentence would stop him re-offending, he said: "Different people have got different walks in life, different circumstances. It depends what kind of circumstances that person's in, whether they'll re-offend or not.

"Me personally, I don't want to offend, but I can't tell what the future holds. I know part of it is I don't want to offend and end up back on community service."

Community Payback Peer Work Supervisor, Bryn Young, said projects such as the nurdle clean-up helped offenders understand the impact they could have on their communities.

"Once you've explained to them, they tend to take notice and they do try," he said.

"If you can get them to take ownership of what they're doing, you tend to get better results."

McKinnell said community payback allowed offenders to visibly repay society while helping break "that roundabout of offending, short prison sentences and offending" again.

She added the scheme benefited both communities and offenders by providing punishment while reducing the likelihood of future crime.

Follow BBC North East on X and Facebook and BBC Cumbria on X and Facebook and both on Nextdoor and Instagram.