AT LEAST 43,000 plastic pellets have been found littering the shores of West Fife's beaches – but the figure could be even higher.

Data from the Great Nurdle Hunt indicates that volunteers have found a minimum of 41,000 pellets over the last decade but many reports say numbers were greater than a thousand, showing the true total could be staggeringly more.

More reasonable estimates say the figure is in the millions.

The worst area for nurdles is North Queensferry with at least 24,000 pellets counted, and in just one day 10,000 nurdles were found in 2014 by the Marine Conservation Society in a beach clean.

Nurdles, small round pellets produced by the plastics industry, are melted down to make plastic products, from car parts to medical supplies across the world.

Due to their size, and often clear colour, they can look appealing to a variety of wildlife for consumption.

At least 10,000 pellets have been found in Culross, Torryburn and Limekilns.

In 2017, volunteers found more than 1,000 nurdles in 45 minutes on Limekilns beach.

A report said: "There are an estimated 1.2 million pellets on this beach. We captured over 1,000 but many more there."

The area with the highest number of reports has been the award-winning Silver Sands Beach in Aberdour. At least 7,000 small plastic parts have been found in Aberdour in total.

In Dalgety Bay, there were records for around 2,000 nurdles.

Pellets were found on both windy and calm days in West Fife.

Many believe that they are washing up on our shores from across the water at Ineos Grangemouth.

Most recently, a group of volunteers in Limekilns gathered at the beach to take part in the Great Global Nurdle Hunt in October.

The survey found more than 90 per cent of countries involved were found to have hundreds of thousands of plastic pellets littering their coastlines.

The research was done by the environmental charity Fidra.

The charity’s report said it is estimated 230,000 tonnes – trillions of nurdles – could be lost to the oceans globally, every year.

Megan Kirton, of Fidra, said: “We can’t keep using energy and fossil fuels to make plastic that ends up in the environment.

“Nurdle pollution demonstrates plastic is being wasted before it has even been used to make anything, which is a huge waste of resources and a threat to wildlife.”