I know it's not the ocean, but when I was on a recent trip to Moab, UT, at the visitors center they had a chart for how long various litters last in the desert. Cigarette butts were 3-5 years, glass bottles were in the 10 year range. Plastic bottles and bags were 200-500 years.
Bill, I think you're right that it was a mistake when they switched from glass to plastic for bottles. The problem is that I think plastic is cheaper to make, and it's definitely a lot lighter, so it's cheaper to ship.
We recycle everything we can. Unfortunately, where we are they only take 1 and 2. At my mom's house in Salt Lake the city takes 1-7 and bags (which many cities don't take, so she's only stuck with unlabelled plastics.
Dave
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If you're not modest, you're probably overestimating yourself. -Tim Cordes
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