Statement on bio-beads disaster at Camber Sands
Sussex Wildlife Trust is devastated to see millions of bio-beads washing up on the coastline of East Sussex.
**Update Fri 12 Nov: pellets have been found inside Rye Harbour Nature Reserve**
The true impact to nature cannot yet be quantified, but we feel that this is an unacceptable and preventable situation.
These tiny black bio-beads are plastic pellets that are used in the later stages of wastewater treatment and we now know that this came from a failure at a Southern Water Wastewater Treatment Works in Eastbourne.
Their impact on wildlife is horrendous. Not only do they remain in the environment for decades, if not hundreds of years, but their size, shape and buoyancy can make them easily mistakable for food to many different species of marine wildlife with profound implications for food chains.
The beads will over time accumulate within species and could ultimately block internal systems potentially leading to death.
We have written to Southern Water to ask for our CEO to meet with them. We want to hear how they intend to determine the impact of this breach on wildlife, how they will be committed to the clean-up operation, what failings led to this devastating breach, and what measures will now be implemented to ensure it never happens again.
We extend our sincere thanks and respect to those organisations who have done so much in the clean-up so far, including Rother District Council, Strandliners and Nurdle.
How you can help
Please report any sightings of bio-beads to the Environment Agency Incident Hotline 0800 807060. Quoting reference: 2440833.
Comments
Laurence Gosden The CEO at Southern Water should be SACKED immediately- no pension and no pay off. SW has been shamefully and criminally negligent in its dealings over many years. He was recently awarded a £690 k long term incentive plan ( in addition to a salary of over £600k ) – Obviosly not a BONUS as that is now illegal 😹 . And now THIS -20 tons of bio beads dumped into the environment. Even the Sec of State said publicly he should not get the incentive plan award.
SW are at Leaf Hall Eastbourne to answer public questions about their work ( whitewashing)- suggest we all attend to let them know what we think!
12 Nov 2025 17:06:00
As the Wildlife Trust monitors the situation in coming weeks it would be good to post updates and to know whether the Environment Agency is investigating the incident and whether it was human error or a simple lack of investment in the waste water plant? Also we will watch to see if the EA takes legal action on this spill or just raps Southern Water on the knuckles? It will be good to know the EA is taking legal action and that Southern Water pays for all the short term costs and the long term consequences.
12 Nov 2025 17:07:00
Thankyou so much for all the work you do.
So glad you will be asking Questions.
Southern Water …..incompetent as always .
12 Nov 2025 17:16:00
Thank you. If there is an open letter to sign or anything that members can do to add weight and support to what you are doing, please let us know. This is deeply saddening and the delay in SW owning up is utterly unforgivable.
13 Nov 2025 12:20:00
I am disheartened about your article on bio beads on our beaches.
Please attach a photograph so I can identify these closer? Thank you
13 Nov 2025 12:27:00
Sussex Wildlife Trust:
Hi Angela - you can see a picture of them on our latest post:
Bio-bead pollution at Rye Harbour Nature Reserve
I cannot believe that the incompetence shown by Southern Water has yet again resulted in possibly irreversible damage to our wildlife in Sussex. I expect a full and comprehensive explanation from SW on how they propose to remedy another environmental disaster – if they fail to provide this, I would expect to see resignations from the responsible SW Officers.
13 Nov 2025 12:29:00
Can we also make sure any spotted beads are reported to Southern Water as they have staff volunteering to do clean up round the clock and will be able to use that information efficiently.
13 Nov 2025 12:37:00
Southern Water area truely disgusting company who only care about ripping off their customers and paying themselves millions and investing nothing in waste treatment and looking after their crumbling infrastructure. They should be brought back into public ownership along with the other water companies very quickly.
13 Nov 2025 12:40:00
Horrendous – another monumental FAILURE !
Those responsible need to PAY for the FAILURE, all clean up costs etc and be billed for the Trusts time spent monitoring this appalling situation.
There should not be any slap on the wrist just a prompt meaningful HEFTY fine, enough is enough.
13 Nov 2025 12:40:00
An environmental disaster in the making, Southern Water should be held accountable for the clean up and be fined a huge amount.
13 Nov 2025 12:52:00
Beyond disgusted.
13 Nov 2025 12:55:00
I believe one or two of my weighted blankets may contain these bio-beads.
I don’t remember where I bought them from. I wouldn’t have flushed the couple that escaped down the loo but put in the rubbish carrier bag if I didn’t poke them back in the hole made by naughty puss cat. They were white not black.
13 Nov 2025 13:02:00
Can we start a petition to ask parliament that southern water be held fully accountable for this environmental disaster I.e. pay fully for total cleanup on an ongoing basis to all areas affected and hold a thorough and detailed inquiry into how this could have happened ,? ? I’m going to write to my MP but we need many many voices.
13 Nov 2025 13:06:00
Perhaps SW might be persuaded to make a generous donation to THE Wildlife Trust to be used to fund other clean up for disasters of this type in future .
13 Nov 2025 13:12:00
This is a truly shocking breach of both trust and responsibility. I cannot state how angry it makes me feel that the water company could allow such a leakage to happen. All they seem to care about is profit. We humans are guardians of our planet for all species and that applies even more to large organisations.
13 Nov 2025 13:15:00
As usual the water company responsible for this and many other environmental abuses carry on regardless, totally unaccountable for their miserable actions.
13 Nov 2025 13:16:00
Unfortunately the clean up is inadequate. No seriousness about getting the beads from Camber Sands at any speed. Hoover has now gone and no expertise as far as I can see. Will be at the QA with MP and will ask about the clean up.
13 Nov 2025 13:26:00
Please keep me updated on this devastating news
When are we going to refuse to pay our water bills until southern water behave responsibly!
13 Nov 2025 13:28:00
We are very grateful to you and all the volunteers thank you.
13 Nov 2025 13:31:00
God help us if these large corporations continue their current practice of creating and spreading pollutants into our water and environment!!!
13 Nov 2025 13:31:00
I think SW has been really disingenuous in their reaction to this pollution incident and the horrific potential harm to all wildlife both in the sea on land and in the air. They maintain even today that these pellets are NOT harmful !!! Please educate these people before they are fined for an exorbitant sum , which may focus their minds a little more acutely. So long as we the customers aren’t paying for their mismanagement.
13 Nov 2025 13:31:00
Horrific news. Southern Water needs to clean up the acute issue, then clean up their act generally.
13 Nov 2025 13:33:00
So very sorry to hear about this, and hoping that Southern Water can be made to take their responsibilities seriously, both in relation to the cleanup and future prevention. This is appalling. We all do our individual best to minimise plastic and to recycle it responsibly, knowing the risks to wildlife, only for it to be undermined where it matters most. Keen to hear further updates and to help and lobby if possible.
13 Nov 2025 13:46:00
They should be given a huge fine that can be donated to helping wildlife conservation
13 Nov 2025 13:47:00
Horrified at yet another disaster from the water boards for the environment and the wildlife as if they don’t have enough to contend with with changing climates, ecosystems and habitats and of course devastating bird flu. I hope Southern Water contribute to the clearing up costs and the physical side of clearing up their disaster.
13 Nov 2025 13:49:00
They must pay in full for the clean up.
They must tell us why it happened given that it has not happened before
They must ensure it cannot happen again
My personal thoughts about this is that the board of directors just do not really care. You can see this from their attitude to sewerage discharges that are a regular occurrence. Unless we can get the board to give a toss then we are fighting a losing battle. Offwat and the environment agency are weak and have no stomach for a fight with a corporation. The only way I can ever see of ‘motivating’ the board is to make the directors personally accountable through fines, imprisonment and shaming them. Release the details of who they are and where they live, make it painful and motivate them to do the right thing.
Otherwise there is just no point.
13 Nov 2025 13:49:00
Another example of the total incompetence of Southern Water, it’s a disaster and Southern Water must foot the bill for the cleanup and start straight away. About time they were renationalised .
13 Nov 2025 13:52:00
A very pertinent statement, thank you
13 Nov 2025 13:55:00
This is a disaster.
Does anybody know what steps are Southern Water urgently undertaking to clean up its pollution of out beaches and sea?
Are Southern Water providing guidance and assistance (including financial) to organisation assisting in the clean up?
Has Southern Water explained how this happened and what steps it is taking to ensure it can never occur again?
In reality I suspect Southern Water is doing very little that will make a difference……..
13 Nov 2025 13:57:00
Sussex Wildlife Trust:
Southern Water's statements and updates are here:
https://www.southernwater.co.u...
Words are beyond me. Trying to think of something useful to say but I can’t.
13 Nov 2025 14:03:00
Southern Water – clean it up!
13 Nov 2025 14:36:00
A very good case to make a stand and refuse to pay for Southern Water’s clean up by withholding the SW element of our water rates. They are an irresponsible disgraceful organisation who have squandered billions of pounds of billpayer funds to award CEO’s for failure and investors for greed and avarice.
13 Nov 2025 14:42:00
Southern Water should be fined many thousands of pounds and the money used to pay curtently out of work people to go ad pick them up
13 Nov 2025 14:43:00
This is a horrendous situation but the only answer is to sack the responsible executives and issue personal fines that cannot be redeemed from SW. Any fines to SW itself will only be passed onto customers through higher bills. Any reduction in dividends to investors will only result in share sales and higher cost of capital which would agin be passed onto customers.
13 Nov 2025 14:46:00
Thank you for your tireless and relentless work to care for marine wildlife, indeed, all wildlife. If there are any letters to Southern Water or the government that I can add my name to, please let me know. Kind regards, Eileen Palmer
13 Nov 2025 14:47:00
Thank you so much for taking action and keeping an eye on things for us.
13 Nov 2025 15:02:00
It should be noted that Rother District Council has statutory responsibility for the foreshore and has from the outset been leading the clean-up efforts. Volunteer help from Strandliners and others is gratefully acknowledged, but my particular thanks go to Rother officers for their highly professional response. I declare an interagency a Rother councillor, and write this in my personal capacity, not on behalf of the council.
13 Nov 2025 15:03:00
Sussex Wildlife Trust:
Thank you to Rother DC for co-ordinating the response.
what is the Volunteer response?
13 Nov 2025 15:08:00
Sussex Wildlife Trust:
Take a look at the work of Strandliners and Nurdle, along with Rother District Council
Bio-beads at Camber -
A massive pay out to compensate and individual responsibility in management.
13 Nov 2025 15:09:00
Shocking that these are another dereliction of duty by a water company. They must be held to account.
13 Nov 2025 15:19:00
This is horrendous! Will Southern Water be paying & cleaning up? We have all had enough of Southern Water!
13 Nov 2025 15:42:00
What a terrible thing to have to report, I am really saddened by this news.Is it possible to put a post on Facebook so we can share awareness if you have not already done so, Thanks
13 Nov 2025 15:46:00
This just shows a continued total lack of respect for our wildlife and the environment, as if all the dumping of effluent into our seas and rivers isn’t enough. Those responsible need to be held personally to account and face heavy personal fines.
13 Nov 2025 16:10:00
Southern Water should be taken out of foreign ownership – predominantly Australian – and, along with the other water companies, nationalised. The failure to prosecute Southern CEOs in 2007 and 2019 when the company was found to have been falsifying its figures signalled to all water companies that anything goes. They believe their only duty is to their investors.
13 Nov 2025 16:11:00
Is it now time to get together with other organisations concerned about our environment and take the culprits to court? Southern Water is owned and controlled by the giant Australian Investment business McQuarie. Talking to Southern is a waste of time and effort, even if they carry some responsibility for the mess. Their owners have no interest in our environment, but if they were named in court they might suddenly discover that they have a few spare billions to clean up their neglected minor investment 12,000 miles away.
13 Nov 2025 16:14:00
Please keep me informed of the clear up operation and the effect on the shingle environment on the Flat Beach area of the Reserve. Part of the Rye Bay Ramsar site.
I concur with Mr Hopson’s suggestion that it is now time to take back Southern Water ownership into the public sector, after consistent failings with their regulatory duties and lack of infrastructure investment. A disgrace.
.
Chair Rye Harbour NR Management Committee
13 Nov 2025 16:24:00
Sussex Wildlife Trust:
Thanks Anthony - we have published some news about the discovery of the beads on the saltmarsh at the NR.
Bio-bead pollution at Rye Harbour Nature Reserve | Sussex Wildlife Trust
Information on how this will be remediated will follow next week
A lot of volunteers, myself included, helped to clean up as much as we could but I now read that Southern Water are taking the credit for this. There was no one from southern water that I saw all day. Surely they have to be brought to book for this devastation. On this coast we very very regularly suffer their dumps in our sea for some issue or other that reoccurs again and again. Surely they have to be held to account now.
13 Nov 2025 16:38:00
Thank you for mentioning Strandliners. This small local environmental NGO has been documenting biobead pollution in East Sussex since at least 2021, as evidenced by their report: https://www.rother.gov.uk/climate-emergency/what-were-doing-as-a-council/bio-beads-in-the-rother-district/.
Given their pioneering work on this issue locally, I hope Sussex Wildlife Trust will consider supporting and amplifying Strandliners’ ongoing efforts, particularly as public and media attention has recently increased. Their grassroots knowledge and established monitoring would be invaluable to any coordinated response.
As you may know, biobead pollution has been documented across the UK for years. The Cornish Plastic Pollution Coalition’s 2018 report recorded multiple major incidents, including Wessex Water’s estimated 50 million biobead release in 2015 and an earlier Truro incident in 2010: http://www.ramepbc.org/CPPC_Biobead_Pollution_on_our_Beaches_2nd_Edition_July_2018.pdf.
13 Nov 2025 16:59:00
Sussex Wildlife Trust:
Thank you for sharing those links Kristina. We are grateful for all that Strandliners have done, this week and in recent years, it's brilliant work.
I strongly agree with all of the comments to date. Seems typical of Southern Water generally.
13 Nov 2025 17:02:00
Makes a change from the sh*t that goes into our seas from these water companies . Clean up they must ,but will they ? All we will get is some lame excuse and nothing done apart from the years of harm to our wildlife .
13 Nov 2025 17:08:00
I’m appalled at the spillage of plastic by Southern Water and their dilatory response and the lack of action they took following the damaging leak. Volunteer organisations did the majority of the clean up in heroic efforts they should never have to spend their precious time foung
13 Nov 2025 17:13:00
Water companies are simply manufacturing disasters, ecological and others, and being paid to do it. Why is there no accountability shame on them?
13 Nov 2025 17:32:00
Totally unacceptable. Souther Water should be out there doing everything they can to clean this up. If it can happen once, it can happen again so we hope that very strct measures will now be taken to prevent the unthinkable. Again our wildlife has to suffer owing to carelessness and lack of forethought.
13 Nov 2025 17:36:00
The clean up nees to be paid for in full by the Polluter. The directors and shareholders should be held wholly responsible
13 Nov 2025 17:47:00
Thank you SWT for your vigilance and for calling Southern Water to account. Sick of the bloated water companies devastating nature.
13 Nov 2025 17:48:00
I trust that Southern water will take immediate action (and report on the action that they have taken) to ensure that this does not happen again. We should put what pressure we can on the EA to levy a substantial fine on Southern Water – a rap over the knuckles is hopelessly ineffective – and if they fail to do this then they should be held to account for failing to discharge their responsibilities.
13 Nov 2025 17:51:00
Shocking but not surprising. Another case of service providers and cooperations just thinking about profits instead of human and non-human species.
13 Nov 2025 17:54:00
thank you for all you are doing this is so sad
13 Nov 2025 18:25:00
As a Rye Harbour beach clean volunteer, please let me know when and where I can help clean up this awful mess. Do we get free parking at Camber?
13 Nov 2025 18:57:00
Sussex Wildlife Trust:
Thanks Pamela - please keep an eye our for volunteer emails and Rye Harbour Nature Reserve social media as to what actions we will be co-ordinating in the coming days.
This is appalling but not surprising. As far asI I know there g has been no attempt to update sewage management in the Eastbourne area despite thousands of new houses being built and planeded as I write!
13 Nov 2025 19:48:00
I am absolutely appauled that Southern Water has allowed this to happen and believe they should be held fully accountable for the cleanup, without passing on the costs to their custo.ers.
13 Nov 2025 19:49:00
How many more times can Southern Water be allowed to pollute our coastal waters? I visited South West Wales earlier this year where the sea water is clear – how Hastings used to be in 60s and 70s.
I’ve found an online petition to renationalise Southern Water:
https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/renationalise-southern-water
Thank you Sussex Wildlife for keeping us posted.
13 Nov 2025 20:00:00
What an awful situation. With all the problems caused by water companies this is a new one to me. These beads must be cleared up immediately.
13 Nov 2025 20:32:00
This is a despicable crime – why and how are these profit making machines masquerading as service providers able to get away with this without being stopped or prosecuted? I just don’t understand why the law doesn’t cover this kind of negligence.
13 Nov 2025 21:13:00
I feel so saddended by the news of yet another devastating environmental impact caused by SW and so angry and frustrated that this organisation can continue to operate with such disregard for anything other than the obscene profits they rake in and pay out to their incompetent management and greedy stakeholders. They know they can proffer meaningless and inauthentic words of regret, with no intention to do the right thing, and get away with it. Please let me know if there are any letters to MP’s that I contribute to. An on mass non-payment of the SW part of the bill might focus their attention, as perhaps would fining/imprisonment of those responsible.
13 Nov 2025 21:16:00
Sad news, but I thank Sussex Wildlife Trust and volunteers to inform us.
I am sure, if no prompt cleaning operation is started, this may harm our Local Wader population, as mentioned in the article, their size and shape can make these easily mistakable for food.
Please keep us update about Environment Agency’s action against Southern water.
13 Nov 2025 22:12:00
I’m not even shocked by Southern Water’s total incompetence. They’ve only ever shown complete disregard for the environment. They care only about money. May they get all they deserve.
Thanks for everything you do. I like to hope there are more people in the world like us than them.
13 Nov 2025 22:13:00
This is unacceptable. Southern Water should be held accountable. This is a disaster for our local wildlife. Once again Southern Water has failed.
13 Nov 2025 23:14:00
Thank you for your clear account of this disaster on our shores. As Angela says, please post a photo of them. SW need to understand the impact of this. And that means the individuals and teams that work for them. Don’t let it happen again SW. Thank you!
14 Nov 2025 07:25:00
Sussex Wildlife Trust:
Thanks Maggie. Please see our more recent post about the impact on Rye Harbour, which includes an image of the beads
Bio-bead pollution at Rye Harbour Nature Reserve | Sussex Wildlife Trust
Nationalisation only option
14 Nov 2025 07:25:00
Very many thanks for adopting a strong, professional attitude towards this dreadful ‘accident.’
It is of course right and proper that those responsible are held to account and that SWT continues to act on behalf of nature and the public good.
14 Nov 2025 07:41:00
How sad to see Southern water responsable for devastating pollution and even break the law knowingly as in the case of sewage discharge when they were ruled to be criminally responsable by law .
14 Nov 2025 08:23:00
I think this matter should be brought up as a question in parliament. The water companies have enjoyed their dividends for years, now they cannot hide what is another in a long line of environmental disasters. They should be held fully accountable for the clean up at Camber and the entire coastline affected by this disaster. The question of why they use these plastic beads hasn’t been mooted yet. Surely there are natural alternatives that can be used to do the same job? If not, why not?
14 Nov 2025 08:53:00
Well done for detailing what the bio-beads/plastic pellets are used for as none of the media reports I’ve seen have stated they are used wastewater treatment. Of note though is that not all water companies use them, mainly just SWW, Southern and Wessex, when upgrades were made in the 1990s and 2000s and in places where space limited. Infact possible only scores to hundreds out of the 6,000 sewage treatment works according to Chat GPT. Which begs the question, why aren’t they banned, when other water companies can cope without them and use the usual methods of activated sludge (the dominant process) etc. Looks a good one for TWT campaign. Best wishes, Mel
14 Nov 2025 10:19:00
Sussex Wildlife Trust:
Thanks Mel - that is indeed a very good question.
Like most people I am sick and tired of Southern Waters endless excuses for their failures, just like Racel Reeves every catastrophe is everybody elses fault, never theirs. Until gross negligence is made a criminal offence with managers held to account nothing will succeed.
14 Nov 2025 10:21:00
I am so sorry to hear about this dreadful discharge of bio-beads on Camber Sands beach. Accidents like this should not be allowed to happen and a deliberate discharge is completely unforgivable. Either way, Southern Water ought to be urgently held accountable in a weighty, meaningful way.
14 Nov 2025 10:26:00
If they float is anything being done to track their spread at sea? What is the quantity released?
Will plankton be feeding on them? Could be disasterous to plancton viability and on up the food chain. Could be quite a research project?
14 Nov 2025 10:27:00
Sussex Wildlife Trust:
There are lots of questions to be answered. Southern Water have said that the amount of beads lost form the Eastbourne treatment works is 'under 10 tonnes'. The impacts on wildlife may be more difficult to quantify.
My Southern Water rates went from £10+ a month to £21.57 a month this year. They have just put it up again (due to an error) to £24.33 a month.mI
I live alone, am out a lot and on a water meter. I don’t mind paying extra if this money is going to improve the environment and upgrade sewage systems but I can’t help feeling that it’s going on fines and directors fees. This frustrates and annoys me intensely! Water companies are supposed to look after the environment but as in everything today…it’s greed and selfishness and a “why should I care” attitude. I’m utterly disgusted and furious at this news of the bio beads catastrophe!
14 Nov 2025 10:36:00
This makes me so angry. Our wildlife is diminishing everyday. Incredibly sad, the whole plastic situation!
14 Nov 2025 12:06:00
More trouble with SW. I am a qualified Solicitor . I would like to volunteer my help in your Legal Team. We need to take action against corporate corruption.
14 Nov 2025 12:08:00
Sussex Wildlife Trust:
checking with RC
Thank you for the statement. I wonder if you and other involved NGOs could consider legal action against SW? It does not seem to me that they are going to be held ot account by government. If they are fined they will just pass on the costs to us, the consumers. My bills just went up by 47% – as did those of many others. I think it would be worth exploring what the legal options are.
14 Nov 2025 16:23:00
How can we make this incompetence national news to shame Southern Water??
15 Nov 2025 09:23:00
Reminder: the draft Sussex Local Nature Recovery Strategies consultation closes 26 November 2025. These legally-required, DEFRA-funded plans will shape nature recovery for years.
https://yourvoice.westsussex.gov.uk/lnrs-east
Part 1 Context & Description of Strategy Area: states “seas fall outside LNRS scope”, p.85: brief generic paragraph on plastics under pollution, 96-97p. no mention of Strandliners despite their vital local work
Part 2 (Priorities & Measures): No mentions of “plastic”
I would have thought the latest and past biobead incidents and their ongoing systemic threats must be included. These Local Nature Recovery Strategies cannot remain silent whilst millions of plastic beads contaminate our coastline, shoreline, and rivers.
Time to also address the conflict of interest: Sussex Local Nature Partnership, which ‘provided extensive consultancy support’ for these strategies, is chaired by Southern Water’s employee.
15 Nov 2025 15:55:00
The Head of Southern Water should resign ! I am SO furious with them for allowing this to happen. All of these environmental disasters goes back to the Thatcherism and all of the cutting of investment in our public infrastructures. There is NO excuse for this heart-breaking mess-up!!
15 Nov 2025 17:36:00
This news has greatly saddened me, I grew up near Rye and the area means a lot to me. Camber was our go to beach as children. Southern Water are a disgrace and it’s time these incompetent people on a ridiculously high wage took responsibility for their actions.
16 Nov 2025 17:26:00
This disgraceful sloppy mismanagement. It clearly will affect lower animals and be taken perhaps as far as human consumption
16 Nov 2025 18:06:00
Failure of leadership from our Labour government to take back control of the water companies will mean this situation will be repeated.
17 Nov 2025 22:11:00
I can hardly bear to read this! It’s just devastating and wipes away all the good work that has been done!! Thankyou to all who have helped to clear what can be cleared. What incompetence somewhere along the line. May it never happen again!
20 Nov 2025 17:00:00
Unforgivable , inexcusable ,
Morally bankrupt board of directors
26 Nov 2025 07:44:00
What are the updates on the bead situation?
I can see that Southern Water has taken responsibility but I am not aware of how much they have achieved so far?
I see that the beads are known now to have arsenic, and lead among other heavy metals. This is deeply concerning. Also the beads have reached coast lines of Kent.
I read a previous comment stating the CEO of Southern Water has a salary of over 600k.
I am shocked.
They have to sort this out and the CEO should not be receiving that kind of salary! How is that at all fair?
This man made disaster is just one of many and it’s absolutely disgraceful. Whether it was an accident or not they have to do better than this.
14 Dec 2025 16:23:00
A very pertinent statement, thank you
20 Mar 2026 15:11:00