LONDON -- Thousands of Hewlett Packard printer cartridges have been washing up on the UK's beaches.
The plastic products have been particularly prevalent on the southwest coast of England, with beachcombers discovering them on sands across Cornwall. They were lost at sea following an Atlantic storm more than a year ago, HP says, and have also been spotted in Ireland, France and Portugal.
Cornish writer and beachcomber Tracey Williams has been keeping track of the cartridges on her Lego Lost At Sea Facebook page, which was initially set up to track Lego bricks spilt from a cargo ship but has broadened to cover all kinds of floating debris since, with photos submitted from beach cleaners worldwide.
"Many people post images of the items they find during beach cleans and we started to notice that HP cartridges were turning up in different parts of the country," she told Mashable. "We asked people to look out for them and started to keep track of who had found them and where. I live by a beach and am interested in (and concerned by) cargo spills, their impact on the environment and where all the debris ends up."
(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_GB/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));This is a message for beachcombers around the world - we need your help. There has been a cargo spill of Hewlett Packard...Posted by Lego Lost At Sea on Thursday, 17 December 2015
Williams has created a Google map of all the locations cartridges have been found globally.
Oddly, it's not just cartridges. Several people have found mini monkeys stranded on the sand too - a mystery that's yet to be solved by the beachcombers.
HP UK and Ireland told Mashable that "a number of cartridges" were lost at sea following an Atlantic storm. The company says it is "committed to collection and recycling the products as quickly and efficiently as possible."
"Based on global standards, we can confirm there is no risk to sea life from the ink as it is water based," the company added. They've set up a free phone line and email recycling service, encouraging anyone who finds the cartridges in the UK to call 0800 0969766 or email [email protected] (for Irish residents it's 1800 848 859 or [email protected]) and say they are setting up a fund to support the collection of cartridges.
Earlier this week, thousands of pink plastic bottles appeared in Cornwall. They were believed to have fallen off a container ship. The National Trust organised a clean up operation.