Some of the millions of small plastic discs, released accidentally from a New Hampshire sewer plant three months ago, have begun washing up on Vineyard beaches

Over the weekend, people reported finding scores of the discs on south shore beaches. One Island resident picked up more than 60 at Quansoo. Others were found on South Beach, near the Edgartown Great Pond opening and at Wasque.

Bret Stearns, director of the Natural Resources department for the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), said he had been fielding reports of the discs all weekend.

“We have collected a bunch of them. We got handfuls from Philbin Beach. A few on Squibnocket,” he said.

After months of exposure to salt water and sunlight, the discs are believed to pose no health threat, but authorities still cautioned people to use gloves if they pick them up.

“My understanding is there is no health risk at this point,” said Edgartown health agent Matt Poole. “They have been exposed saltwater and UV light for so long now, all they really amount to is plastic litter.”

It is estimated some 4.3 million of the discs, which are used to soak up and consume bacteria in wastewater, were released after a malfunction at the Hooksett wastewater treatment plant on March 6, into the Merrimac River.

The discs are each about two inches in diameter, and perforated.

Geoff Brown, vice president of Enpro Services, the company contracted to do the cleanup, said the appearance of the discs on the Vineyard was a surprise.

“They arrived on the Cape about six weeks ago, and we had four crews there for about a week in April, working from Dennis all the way up to Provincetown and around the outside through Truro and Wellfleet. They seemed to have dissipated near Nauset. Some experts we talked to indicated the currents might take them offshore and that they would not make it down toward Nantucket and the Vineyard.

“Then we got a couple of calls from Nantucket last week, and yesterday [Tuesday] started getting calls from the Vineyard.”

At this stage, given the relatively small number of discs found, Mr. Brown said they were not intending to send a crew here to clean up.

Several hundred were found on Nantucket, he said.

Mr. Brown said the best estimate was that 4.3 million escaped from the wastewater system. Of those, about one million were recovered nearby.

In all, about 3.6 million had been recorded as having been recovered. Others were probably disposed of with Enpro’s knowledge.

“We estimate about 500,000 are still unaccounted for,” Mr. Brown said.

He said testing over the past couple of months had shown them not to be bacterially contaminated. Nonetheless, it was recommended people use gloves to pick them up. They can simply be disposed of as normal trash.

Anyone finding the discs is encouraged to call Enpro’s 24-hour, toll-free line, 800-966-1102. Callers should mention that they are calling about the Hooksett event.