Trash of all kinds exists in the ocean – clean-up crews have found cigarette butts, glass bottles and even mattresses. But the most common type of trash found in the ocean’s gyres (circular currents formed by wind patterns and the earth’s rotation) is tiny pieces of broken down plastics, known as microplastics.
Microplastics, as well as plastic products before they’re broken down into smaller bits, have a devastating impact on life in the ocean. Loggerhead sea turtles often mistake plastic bags for jellyfish, their favorite food, and microplastics and other trash can block sunlight from reaching plankton and algae, which are an integral part of the marine food web.