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Comment by darig | Hacker News Reader

If most of the balls are still in the water, the plastic wasn't removed from the water, it's still stuck in the seagrass... and for the few balls that get beached during storms, the plastic doesn't go away... now it's clumped in an organic mess.

Another headline written by the single-use plastic industry.

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Still better than it floating around aimlessly and killing animals who intake it into their body. It works as nature's filter, and I say plant more. It's a band-aid, and not the best solution of all time, but it's better than absolutely nothing... For now.

If a fish ate the plastic, would you say the plastic is in the fish? Or is it still in the water, because a fish is in the water? Which industry would have written that headline?

The fish is killed and eaten, or dies and decomposes. The plastic is still part of that ecosystem.

How long do these neptune balls last before they break apart and release that plastic back into the environment?

> How long do these neptune balls last?

A lot. I have some of them in a few pots as decorative objects. My mother just likened them. Being basically raw cellulose mixed with salt they are pretty indestructible. Still lying there since the last 5-10 years or so.

Not exactly a few, is the marine equivalent to leaves falling from the trees at fall. There are mats lying in the beaches each september. Some of them are very thick.

On the other hand, can't help to mention that Neptune balls is a bad choice for something that is not normally spherical and is made by Posidonia, a creature named in honor of Poseidon. (Ironically there is also a Neptunia plant, and their flowers are shaped as balls).

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