Bio-beads: what are they, what are they used for and what risk do they pose to the environment?
Environment Agency
On the week of 3 November a vast number of small black plastic pellets started to wash up on the beach at Camber Sands in East Sussex.
It immediately, and naturally, drew considerable concern from the public and local community. We quickly started an investigation to understand where this plastic pollution came from, what it was, and who caused it.
A lot of progress has been made and the pellets were swiftly identified as ‘bio-beads’.
Southern Water have publicly apologised for a failure at...