Overview
- Rother District Council urged owners to keep dogs on leads after nurdles and biobeads were found across stretches of the three-mile East Sussex beach.
- Council teams, the non-profit Nurdle, Strandliners and volunteers are removing pellets using specialist suction equipment, with more likely to wash in on the tides.
- Southern Water says it is assisting the response and investigating with the Environment Agency, and its beach sampling reported no impact on environmental water quality.
- Local MP Helena Dollimore called the scale severe and has demanded answers from Southern Water, noting reports of higher-than-usual seal and harbour porpoise deaths this week.
- The source of the pellets has not been confirmed, and officials warn ingestion can harm pets and wildlife and that the plastics may carry absorbed pollutants.