However they represent only a small proportion of marine pollution with oil.
Similar problems exist in the processing and disposal of waste vegetable oils.
The market leader in oil clean up is polypropylene fibre. The material will pick up about ten times its own weight of oil from water. Picture 1 shows the beaker of water, with 25 ml of coloured oil, beside a 1g sample of fibre. The fibre is a natural renewable resource. Other plant fibres can be modified in the same way as the softwood fibre shown in the demonstration.