A whistleblower working in the heart of the Caithness peatlands has claimed that millions of plastic beads are being “spread all over the Flow Country” following a series of equipment failures.
The claims, which have been backed by Thurso and northwest Caithness councillor Matthew Reiss, suggest that specialised plastic mats used to create temporary roadways for SSEN Transmission’s Spittal-to-Beauly power line project have “burst”, releasing pearl-sized plastic pellets, or nurdles, into the delicate ecosystem.
The 170km Spittal-Beauly power line is already steeped in controversy, with many objectors saying it will “trash the Highlands”.
According to the whistleblower – an individual currently working on the site – the spill is being “swept under the carpet” by developers while the beads enter local waterways, including Little River and Thurso River.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) confirmed it was aware of the incident and said it had been in close contact with SSEN over the clean-up operation.
SSEN said it takes its environmental responsibilities extremely seriously and removed the mats from operation as soon as the issue was identified.
“They are small beads, the size of fish eggs, all over the countryside,” the whistleblower said. “I mean everywhere. They’re trying to hoover them up at the moment, but the hoover’s useless. They can’t get them lifted. There are millions of them over miles of ground.”
The source said the beads are escaping from...
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