A new environmental disaster is emerging from the Queensland floods, with locals dubbing the thousands of tiny polystyrene beads covering the coastlines as the "white spill".
Pontoons from the Brisbane River have floated off north of their moorings and are breaking up along 300 kilometres of beaches, from Moreton Island north-east of Brisbane to K'Gari Fraser Island.
Volunteers armed with vacuum cleaners have rushed to clean up amid fears turtles hatching in coming weeks could ingest the tiny beads.
Environmental campaign group, Ten Little Pieces founder Alison Foley, said the debris was quite confronting.
The Noosa Shire Council has found 12 large pontoons from Peregian Beach to Noosa North Shore, including some washed up on beaches in national parks.
The council’s acting Environmental Services Manager, Shaun Walsh, said the biggest concern was that dolphins, fish and other marine animals would ingest parts of the pontoons.
"They're quite large, and some of them are 4x4 metres, if not larger, and a lot of them are made up of polystyrene," Mr Walsh said.
"We certainly haven't seen this extent of pontoons in my memory. I suppose it's just a reflection of the different dynamics of the floods and the tides and the winds — that means it's deposited on our beaches."
Mr Walsh said the council and Maritime Safety Queensland were focused on removing the large pontoons, while residents were encouraged to pick up smaller pieces using bags provided by the council.
Calls for a foam army
Further south on the Sunshine Coast, residents have been urged to take to the beach with battery-powered vacuum cleaners.
Turtle care volunteer and scuba instructor Karen Anderson has called on more volunteers to head to the beach at Warana to vacuum up as many tiny pieces as possible.
"It's like an oil spill, but it's white," Ms Anderson said.
"Birds are going to eat this stuff and die over the months to come.
Ms Anderson said that many people walking on the beach would not even notice the smallest beads, which were the most worrying pollutants.
"Every time I go to the beach, I see more and more and more," she said.
Ms Anderson said the vacuums had been extremely effective in gathering particles when used with care.
Noosa council is also using a large industrial-scale vacuum operated by charity Ocean Crusaders to try to gather as many small polystyrene parts as possible.
Turtles at risk
The pollution from the floods has arrived on beaches just as the turtles are hatching and trying to make their way to the water.
Turtle research volunteer Suzette Warnes said the rubbish could hamper the hatchlings' dash for the ocean, as well as their survival in the next stage of their lives.
"It's obviously going to be getting in the way when they're trying to get into the ocean. One of their first obstacles is trying to get into the surf," Ms Warnes said.
"Then also it's quite possible for them to [swallow] the beads.
The coordinator of the Sunshine Coast Beach Matters group, Rachael Bermingham, said much of the beach clean-up so far had relied on people donating time and expertise, but authorities needed to act more quickly to secure the pontoons to stop beads breaking off.
“We need somebody that has the right equipment to be able to get out there and remove these things ASAP so that they're contained,” Ms Bermingham said.
She feared that more pontoons and rubbish would continue to wash up on beaches over the next few weeks.
"We are dealing with what we have right now, but there's more to come," Ms Bermingham said.
Additional reporting by Kylie Bartholomew and Meg Bolton
