Camber Sands has suffered another pollution incident as plastic insulation foam, often used in ship containers, was found washed up on the beach on Tuesday 13 January. It was also found on the beach at Hastings with reports that it was seen at Bexhill too.
Members of the public reported the pollution to the Rother Coastal Office and the Southern Water contractors on the beach collecting the bio-beads from November’s pollution.
More chunks of the insulation foam have also washed up on the beach on the Rye Harbour Nature Reserve and Sussex Wildlife Trust staff and volunteers are working to remove as much of the material as possible before it breaks down into smaller pieces. They are working with Rother District Council sharing information about the spill and its removal.
Local MP for Hastings and Rye, Helena Dollimore said, “I have spoken to the Environment Agency and the company responsible for this spillage. I am pushing for this company to get down and clean this up immediately.”
Last month, shipping containers washed up in Selsey, Pagham and Bognor Regis spilling their load of bananas and avocados along with plastic foam on the beaches and there were further container losses around the Isle of Wight during Storm Goretti. It is not clear if the foam that has been found at Hastings and Camber is from the same sources.
This comes after millions of bio-beads were washed up at Camber and Rye Harbour Nature Reserve. This has now been declared a Category 1 pollution incident, the most serious, by the Environment Agency who are investigating the spill from Southern Water’s Eastbourne wastewater treatment plant.
Image Credits: Helena Dollimore .