For many years, Baltic Sea countries have been using a rather surprising product to help prepare strategies to tackle an oil spill — popcorn.
The puffed-up kernels can simulate the properties of oil on the surface of the water and be collected in the same way, and they are rapidly biodegradable.
But no amount of popcorn-based oil simulations can prepare for the worst if a large tanker has a serious accident in the region, according to Finnish safety expert Markku Mylly.
