UNITED KINGDOM — Sewage plants could be leaking millions of tiny plastic beads used for wastewater treatment into seas around the U.K., according to a new report. <br /> <br />Dozens of treatment facilities across the country use Bio-Bead plastic pellets to filter chemical and organic contaminants out from sewage, the study from the Cornish Plastic Pollution Coalition (CPPC) said, the Guardian reported. <br /> <br />The study found several millions of the 3.5 mm wide pellets had been spilled into the surrounding seas. <br /> <br />The Bio-Bead system is used by at least 55 sewage plants around the U.K., according to the CPPC. <br /> <br />Bio-Beads are used in the last step of the sewage treatment process before treated effluent water is discharged back into rivers or the sea. <br /> <br />The CPPC found no systems are currently in place at sewage plants to handle Bio-Bead spills. <br /> <br />Plastic microbeads and industrial pellets, like Bio-Beads, are often mistaken for food by fish, birds and other marine wildlife. <br />The plastic kills animals by blocking the digestive tract, but also as a result of exposure to chemical pollutants like DDT and PCBs that attach to the plastic beads in seawater.
