Surfers Against Sewage’s Unidentified Floating Objects (UFO) campaign aims to identify, trace and eliminate persistent items of marine litter found on UK beaches. We will seek to identify regularly occurring, unidentified litter items through research, social networks and other consultation to then tackle those responsible. Once the item is identified, we would call on the manufacturer, distributor or business to develop active and improved product stewardship strategies to protect the environment.
Should the polluter fail to develop and implement effective solutions, we can request a prosecution by the regulator.
We are calling for supporters, volunteers and the wider public to send photos and real samples of potential UFOs for investigation and promotion through our extensive supporter networks.
With the help of our extensive supporter network, the campaigns team are working hard on identifying both of our current objects and has recently discovered the name and source of the blue foam balls washing up nationwide: TAPROGGE BALLS used in cleaning cooling pipes in power stations (and other industrial systems). We are currently in dialogue with the Environment Agency on how to prevent the further escape of these balls into the marine environment. This campaign has already successfully reduced the numbers of Taprogge balls being released from power stations by many tens of thousands. Read about this campaign success here.
SAS is still working to identify our second UFO, the blue ‘stoppers’, found regularly on Newquay, Porthtowan and Perranporth beaches in Cornwall. Ear plugs are a reoccurring suggestion from supporters, however, they are too big and hard for ears. These look like bungs, but who uses them, what for and where? Email info@sas.org.uk if you have any information that might help us identify this UFO!