THOUSANDS of plastic pellets known as nurdles have been discovered in the River Frome, Stroud.

Nurdles, which are about the size and shape of lentils are mainly blueish in colour, are used to make many types of plastic.

They can be easily lost during the manufacturing process and are often washed away by rainwater.

In this case it appears the rainwater has washed them into the River Frome from BPI Recycled Products based on the Bath Road Trading Estate. 

Nurdles have frequently been found in the digestive tracks of marine creatures, causing harmful effects.

There is already a massive amount of plastic in the sea which constitutes quite a biohazard, because plastic accumulates, absorbs, and concentrates toxins.

Stroud Green Party is horrified to hear that nurdles have been discovered in the River Frome.

“We are extremely concerned about reports of discharge of plastic nurdles into our local river,” said Martin Whiteside, leader of eight Greens on the district council.

"At a time when we are learning more and more about the poisoning of our oceans by plastic, it is horrifying to learn that we in Stroud may be contributing through carelessness in our own backyard.

“I congratulate the local group of residents who did the research to identify this pollution and call upon the district council and Environment Agency to investigate this and stop any further release.

“I hope the company concerned should clean the damage they have caused without delay."

The nurdles in question were discovered by a group of volunteers who joined a campaign by FIDRA, a charity which want to clean up the oceans.

The Environment Agency are now investigating the incident. 

“We’re aware of reports of small plastic pellets known as nurdles being found on the banks of the river Frome at Bath Trading Estate, Stroud," said spokesperson Andrea Burton.  

“We’re working closely with Stroud District Council, to investigate the incident and to liaise with those responsible to clean up the pollution.

"We will also work to make sure procedures are in place to prevent this happening again.

“It is believed the nurdles are coming from British Plastics Industries. British Plastics Industries have been out on scene to assess their infrastructure and to see how far the nurdles have spread.

"They are also carrying out a full cleansing of their drains and an inspection of the pipework.

"Along with SDC we will continue to work closely with the company to reduce the environmental impact of this incident."

BPI has apologised for the situation and believes this is an isolated incident.

A spokesperson said: “We have always strived to achieve the highest environmental standards for our business with controls in place to ensure there is no risk of any pellets (nurdles) entering water courses or the river.

“This incident, although isolated has been a real shock to us, for which we sincerely apologise. What appears to have happened is very much a ‘one-off’ – we had contractors working at our factory fitting new sound proofing baffles around the pipework to our silos.

“This was being done at the request of local residents to reduce any noise pollution particularly on warm summer evenings.

“To fit the new baffles our contractor was using compressed air, this resulted in a small amount of pellet being blown upwards onto our factory roof, and subsequently washed into the gutter during the next period of rain.

“We do have an extensive network of meshes, screens and interceptors covering all surface water drains at our site to prevent any pellet entering the watercourse, unfortunately we never considered the possibility of pellet getting onto our roof.

“We are confident there will not be any long term environmental damage and are re-examining all of our working procedures to ensure there are no further incidents of this type.”