What are bio-beads used for and how did they get spilled on to Camber Sands beach?

Plastic pellets attract algae and smell like food so can be eaten by birds, fish and dolphins, which can prove fatal

• Beads spreading on Sussex coast after catastrophic' spill, meeting told

Millions of toxic plastic beads were spilled on to Camber Sands beach, in East Sussex, a few days ago, putting wildlife at risk in what the local MP called an environmental catastrophe".

Southern Water, the local water company, has taken responsibility for the spill after a mechanical failure at one of its treatment plants, which caused the beads to be released.