A beach near Execution Rocks on Long Island Sound is littered with 1000's of these plastic discs. These started showing up about a month ago. Any ideas what they might be?
They are 1" dia x 3/8" wide.
A friend suggested that they might be wadding to shotgun shells - however the size would indicate a 4 Gauge. According to Wiki.Answers.com "There is a 4 gauge/bore shotgun, however it is extremely rare." NRA sites state that 5 and 4 is commonly used for shooting ducks and geese. While, the NY DEC prohibits use of a shotgun larger than 10-gauge for hunting migratory game birds.
Hope you didn't touch them (just kidding, they should be clean by the time you saw them).
Here is a story that relates to these. You might want to contact the local board of health so they can be properly cleaned up.
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“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” -Mark Twain
We had a release of similar-appearing discs from a sewage treatment plant in New Hampshire. They released 4 million of them by mistake into the merrimack river. They have been showing up on beaches all over MA. I wonder if the discs you have there are the same thing? If they are, I would call the Boston Globe and/or the EPA ASAP. That's amazing if they have migrated that far! Pesky ocean currents.
The ones in NY are different then Mass. Same concept, different manufactures.
Here is a photo of the ones from Mass.
The ones the OP found came from Larchmont. They had a similar release.
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“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” -Mark Twain
For anyone interested in such things, they're called various names including "biodisks", "biofilters", etc. They provide a large surface area for nitrogen-reducing bacteria to adhere to so they can convert nitrate to nitrogen gas, reducing the nutrient loading on the wastewater effluent.
Not sure why the story called it "new technology", it's been around for years!
So if a boater were to have an 'accident' and release a holding tank or fuel spill in a NDZ there would be hell to pay. But a town releases tons of plastic and it's 'no problem, they are safe'.
Barry
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Barry Lenoble
Day To Remember, 1986 O'day 35
Mt. Sinai, NY
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(just kidding, they should be clean by the time you saw them).
