Beaches in Sussex have been named and shamed in a new study on toxic waste.

The Marine Conservation Society has highlighted plastic pieces along our shores as a major concern in its Beachwatch 2000 report.

More than 1,300 volunteers from the society recorded 9,607 small plastic pieces including pellets on 150 beaches across Britain.

West Beach at Littlehampton was the worst in Sussex, with 11,220 pieces of litter found over a 0.25-kilometre stretch.

The seafront at Hastings and St Leonards was the cleanest, with only 440 objects.

St Dunstan's at Brighton had 7,845 items across the beach and Shoreham had just 520.

The items found comprised shipping waste, litter from tourists, sewage and fishing waste.

Amy Hinks, co-ordinator for the study, said: "Levels of recorded beach litter levels are still unacceptably high and more than 55 per cent of litter recorded is toxic.

"New evidence about the association of toxic substances with industrial plastic pellets gives us an even greater cause for concern as plastic fragments from degraded litter could potentially act in the same way.

"There is already a wealth of evidence indicating plastic fragments are regularly ingested by marine life, potentially exposing them to toxins."

The Beachwatch project was launched in 1993 by the Marine Conservation Society and aims to raise awareness about the problem of marine and coastal litter.