When the San Francisco sea lion named Blonde Bomber made one of his regular appearances at the city's Pier 39, residents were alarmed at the plastic strap wrapped around his neck. Alarmed, but also not surprised: Plastic pollution is so ubiquitous in the ocean that there are activists who devote hours each week to saving wildlife from such debris. Fortunately for Blonde Bomber, a local organization known as The Marine Mammal Center was ultimately able to rescue him. The vast majority of ocean wildlife is not so lucky when it encounters plastic pollution.
The problem with plastic pollution, as the continent-sized Great Pacific Garbage Patch indicates, is that the type of plastic better known as "synthetic polymers" never biodegrades. Of course, that's part of the appeal. But now plastics are everywhere and too much of a useful thing is causing toxic problems on a global scale. These dangerous plastics include polyethylene, the most widely used plastic in the world (look for it in clear food wrap, shopping bags and automobile fuel tanks); polylactic acid (PLA), which is used in food packaging, clothing fibers and medical implants (it can be biodegradable, but not in all contexts); polystyrene, which is used in foam packaging peanuts, egg cartons and electrical insulators; and polypropylene, which can be used in making upholstery, carpets and ropes.
