![\"Pic:](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/skynews-plastic-pollution-camber-sands_7076651.png\")
<\/p>\nThere is an “environmental catastrophe” at Camber Sands after “millions” of plastic beads washed up on the East Sussex beach, an MP has warned. <\/p>\n
It is thought the dark grey or black “bio-beads” may have come from local water treatment plants.<\/p>\n
Helena Dollimore, MP for Hastings and Rye, has written to the head of Southern Water, saying they are “commonly used in wastewater plants locally”.<\/p>\n
Ms Dollimore also said she is “aware of no reports of bio-bead spills by ships in the Channel”.<\/p>\n
The “scale of pollution is severe”, the Labour MP said, adding that a “continuous line of bio-beads stretches along the entire two-mile coastline, embedded in dense seaweed and sand”.<\/p>\n
Southern Water said it was working closely with the local council and the Environment Agency to investigate the situation.<\/p>\n
Camber Sands is one of the few sand dune systems on the south coast and a large section of the western end of the dunes lie within a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), while the rest is designated a Site of Nature Conservation Importance (SNCI).<\/p>\n
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Image:
\n Pic: Strandliners\/Facebook<\/p>\n
Volunteers, coastal officers and charities are helping to remove the plastic but it’s a “race against time”, Ms Dollimore said.<\/p>\n
In addition, a “higher than usual number of dead seals and harbour porpoises have been washing up this week”, she added.<\/p>\n
One of the charities, Strandliners, said a “giant hoovering machine” had been brought in to assist with what it called the “impossible task of clearing up”.<\/p>\n
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This content is provided by Datawrapper, which may be using cookies and other technologies. Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Datawrapper cookies. Enable Cookies<\/a> It is asking local volunteers to bring long rakes and dustpans and brushes.<\/p>\n More beaches beyond Hastings and Camber Sands need to be checked, the charity said.<\/p>\n A Southern Water spokesperson said: “We are working closely with the Environment Agency and Rother District Council to investigate the source of plastic beads which have washed up on Camber Beach, this investigation work is ongoing.<\/p>\n Image: “Rother District Council is leading the clean-up of the beach, using specialists with a vehicle with suction equipment to remove the beads. We are also supporting with the clean-up.<\/p>\n “We’ve conducted water quality sampling on the beach, which has shown no impact to environmental water quality. This data has been shared with Rother District Council and the Environment Agency.”<\/p>\n Image: Read more: An Environment Agency spokesperson said: “We are aware that a large number of plastic nurdles have washed up along a stretch of coastline in East Sussex which includes Camber Sands.<\/p>\n “We are providing advice and guidance to Rother District Council, which has employed contractors to carry out a clean-up operation. This work is currently under way.<\/p>\n “We are working with other responders to identify the source of the pollution.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There is an “environmental catastrophe” at Camber Sands after “millions” of plastic beads washed up on the East…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":125254,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[242,85,46,141],"class_list":["post-125253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\n People working to clean up Camber Sands. Pic: Strandliners\/Facebook<\/p>\n![\"Pic:](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/skynews-strandliners-camber-sands_7076616.png\")
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