Foods with bold flavors or deep colors can leave their mark on plastic containers—sometimes permanently. Curries, chili, beet ...

It affects all of Hawaii, but Kauai most of all. International cooperation on open-ocean debris is necessary to cut off the waste stream, Surfrider holds — and everyone can help by using less plastic.

Bridget Cevero of the Maritime Aquarium, left, and Annalisa Paltauf of Save the Sound, hold up the 35.75 pounds of trash collected by volunteers at the cleanup at Sherwood Island State Park last year.

Nobody wants plastic pollution. That doesn’t mean poorly considered and heavy-handed governmental actions are the solution. The primary concern regarding plastic pollution is ocean plastic pollution.