@tesscolley.bsky.social
Award-winning environment journalist. Deputy Editor @endsreport.com 🌍 Bylines in The Guardian, South London Press Previously comms for BBC News ✉️ tess.colley@haymarket.com
For a longer thread on this investigation, see here
bsky.app/profile/tess...
“Farmers are being deceived by the water companies. They're being misled" - @georgemonbiot.bsky.social
22 tonnes of microplastics are dumped on farmland PER DAY via sludge - read this snapshot of my investigation outside the paywall (for a limited time!)
www.endsreport.com/article/1924...
This includes staff at the regulator warning 3 years ago that practically all microplastics that enter sewage treatment works end up in sludge bound for farmland.
My investigation has revealed that this is estimated to be 22 TONNES of microplastics per day.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
These docs have revealed the extent to which the EA has sought to persuade the government to implement its plans to tighten the regulatory net on sludge, including eye-watering evidence of the risk of not doing so - and how the agency was ignored.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Last year, lawyers representing @fightingdirty.bsky.social took the EA to court over whether its decision to remove a deadline for reforming sludge regulations was unlawful. The group lost its case - but via FOI I got hold of the docs submitted by the EA.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Read my full investigation on @endsreport.com for details on:
❗️The 22 TONNES of microplastics dumped on farms per day via sludge (equal in weight to about 3.6 MILLION plastic bags)
🇺🇸Why closure of sludge-impacted farms in the US should make the UK sit up
THREAD🧵
www.endsreport.com/article/1923...
🚨EXCLUSIVE🚨
After obtaining reams of internal docs, I have a new story out revealing how govt has sat for three years on plans to tighten rules letting water companies SELL sewage sludge contaminated with PFAS & microplastics.
Read it in @theguardian.com, and..
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Huge news ⚠️
The government has sat on plans to tighten sewage sludge rules for 3 YEARS despite the EA warning of serious contamination from pollutants like #PFAS & #microplastics!
Read @tesscolley.bsky.social's investigation (outside our paywall - for now!) ⬇️
www.endsreport.com/article/1924752
We might have lost our court case, but the papers arising from it, analysed by the brilliant Tess Colley, are a goldmine of information about the disgraceful way in which farmers have been misled by the water companies and ministers have failed to act.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Full thread here 👇
bsky.app/profile/tess...
Read my full investigation on @endsreport.com for:
⁉️ What went on between civil servants, special advisors, and EA staff to mean warnings on sludge have been ignored - I've got receipts
🇺🇸 Why closure of sludge-impacted farms in the US should make the UK sit up
www.endsreport.com/article/1923...
This follows @rachelsalvidge.bsky.social of @watershed-i.bsky.social's story where a water industry insider described sludge as "a Trojan horse" with toxic contaminants (PFAS, microplastics etc) threatening "the long-term sustainability of humanity’s farmland".
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
22 tonnes of microplastics are dumped on farms PER DAY via sewage sludge, my latest investigation has revealed.
Emails and docs I obtained through FOI have exposed how this and other alarming warnings from the EA have been sat on for years.
Read the story 👇
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Hello George! And thank you!
08.07.2025 14:56 — 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0Read the story to see what the water industry and government had to say in response - and let me know what you think.
08.07.2025 14:42 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
.@linesmartin.bsky.social, farmer & CEO of the Nature Friendly Farming Network, was shocked by the levels of microplastics headed to fields via sludge. He said “all farming stakeholder bodies should be championing traceability and sustainable soil health".
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Never one to mince his words, @georgemonbiot.bsky.social, co-founder of @fightingdirty.bsky.social, said "farmers are being deceived by the water companies - they’re being misled, and this could have very serious implications for their future livelihood".
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
@richardbenwell.bsky.social, CEO of @wclnews.bsky.social, said “inaction from the previous government, in the face of advice from the EA on the need for tighter rules, is completely unacceptable” & that the current gov must "swiftly bring in new regulation".
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Last year I revealed how sludge has been sold to UK farmers by water companies containing a banned ‘forever chemical’ - a suspected carcinogen - at levels in excess of those considered safe in emerging science because of potential for crop uptake.
www.endsreport.com/article/1889...
This matters for lots of reasons, including this pollution potentially being taken up by crops. But also for farmers. In the US, some have been put out of business because of the levels of contamination found on their land - & in their bodies - linked to sludge.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
This includes staff at the regulator warning 3 years ago that practically all microplastics that enter sewage treatment works end up in sludge bound for farmland.
My investigation has revealed that this is estimated to be 22 TONNES of microplastics per day.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
These docs have revealed the extent to which the EA has sought to persuade the government to implement its plans to tighten the regulatory net on sludge, including eye-watering evidence of the risk of not doing so - and how the agency was ignored.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Last year, lawyers representing @fightingdirty.bsky.social took the EA to court over whether its decision to remove a deadline for reforming sludge regulations was unlawful. The group lost its case - but via FOI I got hold of the docs submitted by the EA.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Read my full investigation on @endsreport.com for details on:
❗️The 22 TONNES of microplastics dumped on farms per day via sludge (equal in weight to about 3.6 MILLION plastic bags)
🇺🇸Why closure of sludge-impacted farms in the US should make the UK sit up
THREAD🧵
www.endsreport.com/article/1923...
🚨EXCLUSIVE🚨
After obtaining reams of internal docs, I have a new story out revealing how govt has sat for three years on plans to tighten rules letting water companies SELL sewage sludge contaminated with PFAS & microplastics.
Read it in @theguardian.com, and..
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
INTERVIEW 🗣️
As the Planning Bill returns to Parliament, read what @hannahbournetaylor.bsky.social - the 'Lady Godiva of swifts' - told ENDS' @tesscolley.bsky.social about what her efforts to save the ancient creatures reveal about who decision-makers are in government...
endsreport.com/1922369
NEW: In an impassioned 30-min interview, I spoke to @hannahbournetaylor.bsky.social, the 'Lady Godiva of swifts', on what her efforts to save the ancient creatures reveal about who the decision-makers in govt are, and why passion is a ‘derogatory’ term in Parliament...
👉 endsreport.com/1922369
‘Lady Godiva of Swifts’ - love this article’s title! In 2024 I was chuffed to be added to the ENDS report Power List of campaigners. Here is an interview about my swift brick camapign, that has become a nation’s. www.endsreport.com/article/1922...
19.06.2025 15:25 — 👍 27 🔁 7 💬 0 📌 0
NEW: In an impassioned 30-min interview, I spoke to @hannahbournetaylor.bsky.social, the 'Lady Godiva of swifts', on what her efforts to save the ancient creatures reveal about who the decision-makers in govt are, and why passion is a ‘derogatory’ term in Parliament...
👉 endsreport.com/1922369
We are proud to share that ENDS Report won BIG at AOP Digital Publishing Awards last night! #AOPAwards25 🎉🏆 The team took home B2B Editorial Team of the Year and our news editor @pippaneill.bsky.social was crowned journalist of the year 🌟
Huge thanks to the judges, and to our readers 🙌
