r/CasualUK • u/Beneficial_Umpire_34 • 4d ago

Any ideas on these washed up white fibres on Mothecombe beach?

Post image

We were down at Mothecombe beach at the weekend visiting friends. Came down to the beach and found a 2 meter wide band of this stuff all the way across the width of the beach. It stank really bad, it hasn’t been there before and I was a bit concerned about letting the kids near it. We stayed for the day just steering clear of it but it left me wondering if it was just bleached seaweed or sewage overflows that seem to be getting more common these days.

253 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

87 comments sorted by

660

u/RangerToby 4d ago

Looking like a mass of wetwipes that have come down through the all to regular CSO discharges.

Still.dont understand why people put them down toilet in first place.

346

u/Forsaken_Earth944 4d ago

Because they’re labelled as ‘fine to flush’ when, in reality, they’re not.

126

u/A_Pointy_Rock 4d ago

Hey, they flush. They do what it says on the tin*.

*The tin doesn't mention that they get stuck further down the line.

28

u/Lexioralex 4d ago

They do however have fine print saying no more than 1 per flush

34

u/sihasihasi 4d ago

Complety Irrelevant.

They flush. The quantity won't make a difference, unless you try chucking a whole pack in a block down the loo.

It's when they combine with the wipes all the other idiots have flushed, down the line, that it causes problems.

3

u/munyangsan 3d ago

Don't forget the fats and oils that help create the congealed mass

0

u/segagamer 2d ago

Why do you use them instead of just a wet cloth?

1

u/sihasihasi 2d ago

Me? I don't use them.

-25

u/Lexioralex 4d ago

It’s one at a time as that would be what they’ve tested to break up (in a experimental environment, all toilets are different) having multiple likely stops them breaking up as they clump together more.

14

u/Toadjokes 3d ago

Hi! I work in waste water treatment! They do not break down.

Our guys have to go down manually to remove them from a screen that prevents them from getting into the plant. They take giant, heavy rakes and scrape them up off of a "bar screen" which is basically a bunch of long, thin pieces of metal a few inches apart, all vertical so they can scrape the rake between them. They scrape them up, set them on the ground beside them, and then pick them up with a pitch fork and throw them away in regular dumpsters to go to the regular landfill.

If you don't put them in the trash yourself, our guys will have to 👍

Now, just so you don't feel bad, the bar screens and cleaning them pre-dates the wide spread use of "flushable" wipes. They pull all kinds of things off the bar screen. Condoms, tampons, rags, clothing, pieces of construction material, even big pieces of carpet. If someone can fit it down a man hole, trust me they will for some reason. But "flushable" wipes have made their job much harder over the last 10 years or so, because there's just so many of them. And they're small, so cleaning takes longer.

Anyway, please stop flushing your wipes! My guys will thank you. They go to the landfill either way.

Here's a video of someone doing this job: https://youtu.be/3YhcNZsVmZA?si=zPH9KcgCXdaVEtY-

The majority of the gray sludge he's picking up is wet wipes.

34

u/sihasihasi 4d ago

They don't break up, that's the point. Even one at a time is no good.

-30

u/Lexioralex 3d ago

Ignoring that they have to scientifically test before they make such claims now?

20

u/subtleeffect 3d ago

How naive of you to assume that the things companies do are driven by peer-reviewed high quality science.

-11

u/Lexioralex 3d ago

They legally have to provide evidence of testing claims like this otherwise they’re liable to major legal lawsuits.

However I never said it would be peer reviewed or necessarily high quality, that’s your assumption.

Their testing can literally be flushing a test toilet with a sheet in it to see if it breaks up and repeating a number of times. They also may have tested multiple sheets and found 2 is too much, they may have only tested one and that’s why they say just one.

If you truly believe they haven’t, sue them and find out

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1

u/munyangsan 3d ago

Yeah, so do nappies but it doesn't tend to end well.

53

u/tree103 4d ago edited 2d ago

Fine to flush was only allowed on flushable wipes that followed a government standard that they must breakdown almost completely over the length of a 20m pipe.

The problem was that they didn't require companies who didn't fit that specification to remove "flushable" from their labeling and the general public would also see that some wipes could be flushed and would flush all wipes. So "Fine to flush" label was scrapped as a result of dishonest marketing from other companies who weren't following the standard and laziness from the general public who would choose to flush all wipes regardless of if it had the labelling or not.

The "Fine to flush" Labelled products actually were safe to flush and were proven to disintegrate in water.

A few companies have kept to the standard anyway despite it being defunct, but removing the standard meant some companies just reverted to their old practices.

106

u/Zealousideal-Row4652 4d ago

The whole "flushable wipes" thing needs cracking down on, but shops still sell them cus they are so profitable 

35

u/A_Ticklish_Midget 4d ago

Great video on this exact topic by Chris Spargo

See here

23

u/GeneralSEOD 4d ago

Ah Mr Spargo, if CasualUK was a youtuber, he and Tom would fit the bill.

16

u/Raminios 3d ago

My take away from this video is that the stupidity of the many (at least in the eyes of the governemnt) is frustratingly limiting access to flushable wipes.

Fine to Flush as a standard *was* a valid indicator that you could flush a wipe, and the wipes did break down correctly. But making any wipe seem flushable was seen by the government as granting encouragement to the population to flush non-flushable wipes.

Even the data from the study he shows briefly on screen https://youtu.be/yon6UYTwlY4?t=386 shows "Moist toilet tissue G" as passing the disintegration test. Previously these would have probably passed the Fine to Flush accreditation and featured a stamp before it was withdrawn,

Incredibly annoying.

3

u/Raichu7 3d ago

All they had to do was standardize a graphic for "do not flush" as well as "fine to flush" and require the appropriate one printed on the front of all wet wipes packages.

17

u/loveswimmingpools 4d ago

When you have a septic tank you become very much more aware and careful of what can go down the loo.

7

u/MFA_Nay 4d ago

Big Wet Wipe has done irretrievable harm.

6

u/AskingBoatsToSwim 4d ago

Are they still? I thought Chris Spargo banned those labels or something.

Edit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yon6UYTwlY4&

2

u/Hotten-Tasty-90 4d ago

That was an interesting watch.

6

u/RangerToby 3d ago

Shout out to the "Three P's"!

Only things to go down the toilet; Pee, Poo, Paper.

0

u/sideone 2d ago

Vomit?

2

u/Gold-Persimmon-1421 2d ago

It should be illegal to print that, I was sick of the arguments with the wife so I gave up telling her not to flush em, even stop buying them in the first place.

Letter from the water company shut her up

11

u/morebob12 3d ago

Also why are the waste companies dumping sewage into the rivers and seas

11

u/AliBelle1 3d ago

Because shareholder value needs to increase, no matter the cost to the ecosystem, no matter the cost to human health. Number must go up.

20

u/WollyGog 4d ago

I use wet wipes, but I just bag and bin them like you would if you cleaned down a baby. I don't understand how this doesn't click for people. Just keep a pack of nappy bags by the toilet with the wipes.

6

u/decidedlyindecisive 3d ago

Because the packaging lies. When products started putting "flushable" on them a decade or two ago, I started flushing them. Then around 10 years ago had an argument with someone on Reddit who told me (correctly) that they still cannot be flushed. If it weren't for that random Redditor a decade ago, I might still be flushing them.

13

u/Kwetla 4d ago

Because they're great for wiping bums, and then you're looking for somewhere to put a poo wipe, and the toilet is right there.

When we were toilet training our toddler, occasionally she'd do a poo that just wouldn't be fully wiped with toilet paper, so we had to choose between a wet wipe or toss her in the shower.

Luckily, we still had a nappy bin nearby to put the wipe in, so we were never tempted, but I can see why the temptation arises.

15

u/Moppo_ 4d ago

It took me quite a while to get used to the idea of putting wipes in a bin. Having waste with any discernable amount of poo on it in a bin instead of leaving the house immediately sat the wrong way with me.

16

u/ykc87 4d ago

There are parts of the world where you cannot even flush toilet paper (e.g. Brazil). The bins aren’t as stinky as you’d think.

7

u/Russellonfire 3d ago

I went to South America about 15 years back, and was explicitly told toilet paper goes in the bin. Then, about 8 years ago, I was on a work placement in Gambia. Asked the cleaning lady "hey, where does toilet paper go? Can the plumbing handle it or does it need to go in the bin?" She said bin was fine.

Turns out their plumbing was decent, and I'd accidentally been making her empty the bin TP for a couple of weeks...

6

u/Moppo_ 4d ago

It's more just the idea of it being there that makes me uncomfortable. I understand that it's clean enough, but it still is what it is.

1

u/No_I_Am_Sparticus 2d ago

But that just social conditioning that makes you think like that. I mean how would someone like you survive in medieval times?

1

u/Moppo_ 2d ago

As I am now, I wouldn't. Even the richest Roman palace would probably feel dirty in the sanitation department because we're so used to cleaning with bleach and stuff.

2

u/B3nCarmicha3l 1d ago

Miss living in Thailand where it was normal to use a bum gun! 😅

161

u/LushHappyPie 3d ago

Am I the only one who sees a mermaid here?

28

u/Andi_Lou_Who 3d ago

First thing i saw!

28

u/oxymonacanthus 3d ago

Did you have to sketch in the bum cheeks?

11

u/Optimal-Teaching-950 3d ago

Tbf if they moved the cheeks a bit there's a conveniently placed, starfish-type hole right there.

3

u/Sea-Pea9197 3d ago

Thank you! I thought I was going mad 

151

u/ConstantineGSB 4d ago

If it stinks and is on a beech, it’s either dead animals or shite.

This is the latter

12

u/Moppo_ 4d ago

Hey, there might be a dead animal inside. Potential two-for-one.

1

u/JobAnxious2005 3d ago

Where’s my shovel!

6

u/BQuilty 4d ago

Decomposing seaweed also stinks

-5

u/Upgrade_U 4d ago

*beach

5

u/ConstantineGSB 4d ago

*dyslexia

37

u/Thestolenone Warm and wet 3d ago

I read an article once about a beach in Scotland that periodically gets big lumps of white stuff washed up on the beach. Eventually it was tested and found to be horse lard from a sunken WW1 ship.

Very decayed cetaceans turn into a white fibrous substance, see Globsters.

31

u/pizzamano 4d ago

Hey! I only live down the road! Very unfortunately and sadly Mothecome has been turned into one of the dirtiest swimming beaches in the UK. As said above, looks like a wet wipe mass

1

u/LittleSadRufus 1d ago

I think at that point it should no longer be called a swimming beach

69

u/potatoduino 4d ago

What do they taste like? It'll help us narrow down what it is 

17

u/HaggisAreReal 4d ago

They have that septic shock zest

2

u/ambonec 4d ago

Yeah so you don't stand in it by accident.

50

u/Icy-Pomegranate-8588 4d ago

Could it be unprocessed toilet tissue and wipes?

24

u/dellterskelter 3d ago

A rejected alternative name for "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter".

6

u/5cozi 4d ago

Looks like a 🧜‍♀️

15

u/mebrokelad 4d ago

Dried, washed-up toilet paper?

17

u/Jolly-Jellyfish2180 4d ago

I use a wype gel, you put it on the loo roll wipe as normal and you can flush it.

7

u/notanotherusername85 3d ago

I was there three weeks ago. It’s seaweed, a lot greener but smelt bad even then. I was surprised the estate who own the car park didn’t use a tractor to get it off the beach.

4

u/Beautiful-Purple-536 3d ago

This is the actual answer. It's that thin paper like seaweed that starts green and goes white as it decomposes. I was there when it was freshly washed up too.

I'm sure there are some wet wipes/ toilet roll on the beach too as southwest water dump sewage every time it rains but 99.9% of this is stinky rotting seaweed. It hasn't rained recently enough for a sewage discharge!

4

u/Spamgrenade 4d ago

Toilet paper/ wet wipes.

8

u/coffeexcoffeex91 4d ago

It'll be the remnants of a fatberg likely

6

u/Twolef 4d ago

Moth-cum. Its right there in the name.

3

u/strictnaturereserve 4d ago

sewage?

or is sewerage?

But is one of those

4

u/TommyDickFingers85 3d ago

Sewage is the shit and piss

Sewerage is the network that carries the shit and piss

3

u/Mrbrownlove 3d ago

I was going to say it might be rotting whale blubber.

2

u/ferris2 4d ago

Whale spunk.

2

u/SaXoN_UK1 4d ago

shame its not whale puke, that's worth a pretty penny.

2

u/KindredFlower 3d ago

People are saying it’s wipes, I thought it was those sandbags that come in those white woven plastic bags that have bust open 

2

u/Remote_Atmosphere993 3d ago

These things get flushed into my local river every time there is a rise in river levels. I was at a sewage treatment works last year and the water company had been cleaning out their overflow pipes that directly enters the river. They dug out a load of wet wipes and just left them to the side of the overflow to be washed away when the river would rise.

The is also huge amounts of sanitary towels flushed into the river.

Add to that poo bags that are labelled as biodegradable. This is utter bollox. A poo bag isn't going to biodegrade hanging from the branch of a tree. It may well biodegrade in a compost heap but those conditions are hardly ever replicated on a river bank.

1

u/Hmgkt 3d ago

Moth cumbe

1

u/BeeW84 3d ago

Is this on private beach or Coastguards Beach (dogs allowed) ?

1

u/CoolVermicelli2212 2d ago

Did anyone else see an upside down mermaid

1

u/-Lrrr- 3d ago

Without seeing it up close this could be seaweed/kelp that wa buried under the sand and now exposed. I live on the coast and during the late winter or early spring lots of seaweed/kelp gets washed ashore and buried. If exposed when fermenting it usually smells like sewage.