More Than 2 Tonnes of Spilled Plastic Pellets May Still Be in the River Tyne, Newcastle University Modelling Suggests

Nearly three months after a ship collision spilled plastic pellets into the River Tyne in north-east England, researchers at Newcastle University estimate that more than two tonnes of those microplastic pellets were still in the river estuary six weeks after the spill.

Chronicle Live reported the new modelling on October 10, 2026. The pellets — known as nurdles — are the raw material for most plastic products. The Newcastle University project tracking them describes the spilled pellets as high-density polyethylene, about 4 mm across: small enough to fall inside the under-5-mm size range used to define microplastics.

What happened on the Tyne

• The spill. On July 19, 2026, the vessel Wind Orca collided with the berthed container ship BG Orange at the Port of Tyne, releasing plastic pellets into the river. A crane operator was also injured.
• The scale. Published estimates of the spill size differ slightly. The Newcastle University research project puts the release at around 17 tonnes of pellets — roughly 850 million nurdles — while Chronicle Live reports an estimate of more than 18 tonnes. Both describe the same July 19 spill; the new modelling below is about how much of it was still in the river.
• The new estimate. Computer modelling by Newcastle University scientists suggests about 2.2 tonnes of pellets remained in the river estuary six weeks after the incident, even after allowing for what clean-up teams had recovered.
• How it was modelled. The team released 10,000 “virtual particles” into a model of the environmental conditions present at the time of the spill. Where pellets went once they reached the open sea is much less certain; one “plausible scenario” has them moving to northern shores in early August before shifting southwards.

Why autumn matters

Low river flows since July have left pellets that moved up the estuary with little to move them on. “When elevated river flows arrive, some of that material is likely to be flushed downstream, so now is the time to consider where it could be intercepted,” said Dr Matt Perks, who leads the Newcastle University research project into the spill.

“Even after allowing for everything the clean-up teams recovered, more than two tonnes of pellets were still in the river six weeks after the spill,” said Dr Seb Pitman, senior lecturer in physical geography at Newcastle University.

Why the pellets matter

The research project says plastic pellets last for decades or longer, can be swallowed by birds and fish, and pick up contaminants from the water around them. Once trapped in mudflats, saltmarsh and riverside vegetation, they are hard to clear, and later tides and floods can release them again. Over the next 12 months, the team plans to measure how pellets move with the tide and to track how they break down, become coated in organisms and pick up metals over time.

Where the clean-up stands

Port of Tyne said the “next phase” of recovery work is under way and that the quantity of nurdles being recovered has “reduced considerably” since the early days of the spill. Its partner Ambipar was due to remain on the water until October 11, when the port’s team takes over leading daily operations, with specialist support planned around the spring tides of October 28 and November 9.

The Tyne spill is a clear, traceable case of microplastics entering a working river all at once — and of how long they can stay there.

Sources

• Sam Volpe, “Nurdles updates issued as researchers think ‘more than 2 tonnes’ could still be in river Tyne,” Chronicle Live, October 10, 2026: chroniclelive.co.uk
• Newcastle University Tyne Nurdles research project, “Against the flow: where did the Tyne’s nurdles go?”: tynenurdles.org.uk

Photo: plastic nurdles (pre-production pellets), gentlemanrook via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0). Illustration of the pellet type; not a photo of the Tyne spill.

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