The small grey balls that caused panic when they washed up on Sydney beaches two weeks ago have been identified by scientists.
It turns out they were mostly made up of soap scum and cosmetics.
Nine beaches in Sydney’s northern beaches district, including Manly, Dee Why and North Narrabeen, were closed on January 14 after the marble-sized balls showed up on the shoreline.
Jon Beves, a chemistry professor at the University of NSW, said the tiny balls were mainly made up of things found in everyday household items.
‘We analysed these and found that they’re mostly saturated fatty acids and calcium, so the fatty acids that you’d find in cleaning products or cosmetics, soaps,’ he told the ABC.
Small traces of pharmaceuticals and animal faecal biomarkers were also found in the balls.
The finding on the northern beaches came after seven iconic beaches including Bondi, Coogee and Maroubra in the city’s east were closed last October when dozens of black balls washed up.
The incident sparked a massive clean-up by Randwick Council, which initially thought the balls were toxic ‘tar balls’ created by an oil spill or ship leakage.
But scientists later revealed that their origins were far more disgusting.
UNSW researchers said the balls were actually a foul mixture of raw sewage, cooking fat, soap scum, and drugs.
This suggested that the balls were chunks of a ‘fatberg’ typically found in city sewers.
Questions around the origin of the debris remained – researchers were unsure if they came from local sewerage systems, a boat, or stormwater.
However, they were certain the balls all came from the same place, as they were similar in composition.
More to come…