Effects On Wildlife

When the plastic degrades it doesn't decompose like other materials.  Instead it breaks down into smaller and smaller particles until it greatly resembles plankton.  These small plastic particles are then ingested by jellyfish which are at the bottom of the food chain.  These jellyfish, being at the bottom of the food chain, are ingested by other animals and this happens all the way up the entire food chain until all the animals are ingesting the plastic particles.  This can be very disruptive to the marine animals, because when the plastic is floating around in the ocean it absorbs pollutants, such as PCBs, DDT, and PAHs.  All of the chemicals are highly toxic to animals and cause major hormonal problems in them.  The picture above is a bird that has ingested a large amount of plastic debris and died form it.