A Review on the Impact of Plastic Debris on Marine Environment

Abstract

Marine plastic debris is increasing day by day resulting negative impacts on the marine biodiversity. Therefore, this review article summarizes the types of marine debris, sources of marine debris, impacts of marine plastics, and global initiatives for reducing plastic pollution in the marine environment. Both macro and micro plastics are coming from two sources including land (e.g. home, industry) and ocean (e.g. fishing). Plastics pose a great threat to organisms in the marine environment, for example, through ingestion or entanglement in the plastic. For addressing the issue of plastic pollution in the marine environment governments have formulated several laws and legislation and taken different approaches as well.