close
close

Pasteleria-edelweiss

Real-time news, timeless knowledge

‘Droplets’ blocking Australian beaches are made up of faeces, weed and meth, scientists say
bigrus

‘Droplets’ blocking Australian beaches are made up of faeces, weed and meth, scientists say

The thousands of black drops that washed up on various beaches in Sydney, Australia, were composed of thousands of compounds including human fecal waste, cooking oils, marijuana, meth and more. (Randwick City Council via Storyful)

Thousands of mysterious drops washed ashore in Sydney, Australia, closing many beaches, ended up consisting of poop, marijuana and methamphetamines, scientists said.

The black balls that washed up on Coogee Beach last month were thought to be made of tar. ABC News.

However, after testing, the balls were found to contain cooking oils, grass residue, meth, fossil fuels, soap scum, PFASpesticides, veterinary drugs and human feces, among other things.

“We found that the sticky spheres contain hundreds of different compounds.” Associate Professor Jon Beves, from the School of Chemistry at the University of New South Wales, said: Beves was one of the scientists who analyzed the mysterious black balls.

FILE – Scientists from the University of New South Wales investigated the structure of black balls. (Randwick City Council via Storyful)

Where did blobs come from?

Beves told ABC News that scientists aren’t sure where the bubbles are coming from but suspect they may be the result of pollution.

“This is definitely not due to an oil spill. It’s human-caused waste or pollution that somehow got into the water,” he said.

According to the university, Sydney Water has advised that there are no known issues at Sydney Water facilities.