'Catastrophic': plastic beads spreading along coast after huge spill

The massive spill of plastic beads at Camber Sands in East Sussex is devastating for local people, wildlife and tourism, and the beads are dispersing along the coast, residents heard at an emotional meeting on Thursday.

- Helena Horton

Millions of toxic plastic beads are thought to have escaped into the sea from the nearby Eastbourne sewage works about two weeks ago, after a screen keeping them in broke. They began to wash up on Camber Sands beach last Thursday, with the situation worsening last weekend.

Environment Agency sources suspect it is one of England's worst plastic pollution events, with approximately 10 tonnes of beads spilled. The nonprofit organisation Strandliners, which measures and tackles plastic pollution, has estimated this represents about 650m beads.

"This is catastrophic," said Sarah Broadbent, who chairs the 1066 County tourist board. She told the packed public meeting: "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 locals depended on the beach for happiness and mental health, Broadbent said. "The beach is a factor in everyone's lives here."

The meeting at Rye's Tilling Green Community Centre was attended by hundreds of local people, the MP for Hastings and Rye, Helena Dollimore, and Southern Water and Environment Agency representatives.