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3 months ago
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An urgent warning has been issued to dog walkers as thousands of 'toxic' plastic pellets wash up on UK beaches.
The pellets, known as nurdles or bio-beads, have washed up in enormous numbers on Camber Sands beach in East Sussex.
Experts are concerned that the tiny pellets could poison any animals that accidentally eat them.
Rother District Council has issued an alert, cautioning dog owners to keep their pets under close control while walking on the beach.
Although the plastics themselves are not dangerous, they can absorb toxic pollutants and chemicals while at sea.
Additionally, if consumed, the plastic beads could cause potentially fatal blockages inside dogs' digestive systems.
A Rother District Council spokesperson said in a statement: 'We are not aware of any concerns regarding public health.
'However, due to the potential risk posed to pets, we strongly advise dog owners to keep dogs on leads and under close supervision while on the beach to stop them potentially eating the nurdles.'
An urgent warning has been issued to dog walkers after thousands of potentially toxic plastic pellets washed up on Britain's beaches
The plastic pellets, known as bio-beads, were found on Camber Sands beach (pictured) in East Sussex, covering the entire three-mile stretch of the beach
The nurdles and bio-beads have been found across the entire three-mile length of the beach, which extends across the border with Kent.
Nurdles are tiny pellets of plastic less than five millimetres in diameter that are used in plastic production as a raw material.
Bio-beads, meanwhile, are small, dimpled pieces of plastic that are used as a filter medium in water treatment plants.
Clean Jurassic Coast, who are working with Rother District Council to clean up the microplastics, said the incident was 'one of the worst we've ever seen'.
A spokesperson for the group said in a statement that the scale of the spill was 'shocking'.
They added: 'Millions of them are covering the sand and washing up with every wave. They're extremely harmful to wildlife and incredibly difficult to remove.'
Nurdles and bio-beads are especially dangerous for wild birds or fish, which can mistake the small pieces of plastic for food.
This gives the animals the feeling of being full while providing no nutrition, eventually causing them to starve to death.
What are bio-beads?
Bio-beads are often mistaken for small plastic pieces called nurdles, but the two are quite distinct.
Bio-beads are used as the final stage of the water treatment process that makes raw sewage safe enough to dump into the sea or rivers.
They are small plastic pellets about 3.5mm wide with rough, dimpled surfaces.
Their role is to capture a layer of bacteria called a biofilm, which digests the sewage waste.
Water companies place billions of these beads into tanks, known as cells.
Unfortunately, poor management sometimes means these pellets are released into the sea with the treated water.
Bio-beads contain a high number of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are known to have carcinogenic properties.
These plastic pellets also contain significant levels of lead, antimony and bromine, which leach into animals' tissues if ingested.
If swallowed, both types of pellets can lead to severe internal injuries, ulcers, organ damage, or even death if the animal isn't treated.
It isn't currently clear what caused the spill or from where the plastic originated.
Nurdles typically enter the water system when they are lost during shipping and transport.
Meanwhile, bio-beads generally escape from water treatment plants due to poor management, storms, or improper disposal.
According to Rother Distric Council data, bio-beads have been found in great numbers on Camber Sands in recent years.
A 2021 council report concluded that it was 'not possible' to quantify the number of bio-beads on Camber Sands beach since so many were buried in the sand.
According to Clean Jurassic Coast, which is taking part in the cleanup, this is one of the worst spills that has ever been seen on this part of the coast
Bio-beads have been a constant source of pollution on Camber Sands, and can be deadly to animals if eaten
The report points out that Southern Water operates five water treatment plants that use bio-beads in the area.
These plants have previously led to several pollution incidents through 'poor housekeeping and poor handling'.
When the council investigated these sites, they found loose bio-beads in open bags exposed to the elements, on the ground near treatment sites, and even outside the entrance gates.
However, there is currently no evidence to suggest that this spill originated from any of Southern Water's treatment plants in the area.
Cleanup efforts on the beach are ongoing, with groups hoping that the high spring tide will concentrate the debris at the waterline.
The council is also working alongside Nurdle, a non-profit group dedicated to removing microplastics from British beaches.
However, since the beads are so small and easily spread, it is unlikely that all the plastic will be removed.
Southern Water has been contacted for comment.
URBAN FLOODING IS FLUSHING MICROPLASTICS INTO THE OCEANS FASTER THAN THOUGHT
Urban flooding is causing microplastics to be flushed into our oceans even faster than thought, according to scientists looking at pollution in rivers.
Waterways in Greater Manchester are now so heavily contaminated by microplastics that particles are found in every sample - including even the smallest streams.
This pollution is a major contributor to contamination in the oceans, researchers found as part of the first detailed catchment-wide study anywhere in the world.
This debris - including microbeads and microfibres - are toxic to ecosystems.
Scientists tested 40 sites around Manchester and found every waterway contained these small toxic particles.
Microplastics are very small pieces of plastic debris including microbeads, microfibres and plastic fragments.
It has long been known they enter river systems from multiple sources including industrial effluent, storm water drains and domestic wastewater.
However, although around 90 per cent of microplastic contamination in the oceans is thought to originate from land, not much is known about their movements.
Most rivers examined had around 517,000 plastic particles per square metre, according to researchers from the University of Manchester who carried out the detailed study.
Following a period of major flooding, the researchers re-sampled at all of the sites.
They found levels of contamination had fallen at the majority of them, and the flooding had removed about 70 per cent of the microplastics stored on the river beds.
This demonstrates that flood events can transfer large quantities of microplastics from urban river to the oceans.
