Plastic beads spreading on Sussex coast after catastrophic' spill, meeting told

"Millions of tiny, toxic plastic beads are thought to have escaped into the sea from Eastbourne sewage works in East Sussex about two weeks ago when a screen keeping them in broke. They began to wash up on Camber Sands beach last Thursday, with the situation worsening over the weekend. Environment Agency sources suspect this is one of England's worst ever plastic pollution events, with approximately 10 tonnes of beads spilled:"

"the plastic pollution campaign group Strandliners has estimated it is probably about 650m beads. This is catastrophic, Sarah Broadbent, who chairs the 1066 Country tourist board, told the meeting attended by hundreds of local people, Southern Water representatives, and the area's MP Helena Dollimore. We really rely on tourists here, who come for the beach. We will be at the bottom of everybody's holiday list now."

"She and other local people depended on the beach for their happiness and mental health, she said: The beach is a factor in everyone's lives here. This is catastrophic for us. While it will be impossible to completely remove all of the hundreds of millions of beads, the people at Camber continue to work to find as many as they can."

A screen failure at Eastbourne sewage works released millions of tiny, toxic plastic beads into the sea about two weeks ago. The beads began washing up on Camber Sands and worsened over the weekend, and have been found along the coast from Hastings to Dungeness and inside Rye Harbour. Environment Agency sources estimate roughly 10 tonnes spilled, and the campaign group Strandliners estimates about 650 million beads. The contamination threatens wildlife, the Rye Harbour nature reserve salt marshes and wading birds, and devastates local tourism and residents' wellbeing. Cleanup teams are working but complete removal of hundreds of millions of beads is impossible.

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