How plastic in the ocean hurts animals

How does plastic in the ocean hurt animals?

The whale’s body was already decomposing, falling to pieces, when it washed ashore on a Sardinian beach. 

But the contents of its stomach were still intact. Tightly packed inside its ripped-up gut was nearly 50 pounds of plastic waste. Bags still stamped with their brand logo, a miasma of netting, tangles of lines and other refuse from human consumption. 

This pregnant sperm whale, once capable of reaching the darkest depths of the sea, hunting massive prey and navigating thousands of miles, had been killed by mere garbage. And she’s far from the only one.

Each year, an estimated 11 million metric tons of plastic pour into the ocean. That’s the equivalent of dumping one garbage truck of plastic into the water every 45 seconds. Once there, plastic is extremely difficult to remove and nearly impossible to destroy. It’s carried across currents, breaks down into microplastics and infiltrates every part of ecosystems. Found from the coral reefs of the Caribbean to the darkness of the Mariana Trench — even the polar ice caps now contain traces of microplastic.

Most of this pollution starts on land: single-use packaging, litter, industrial spills of plastic pellets (nurdles) and runoff from landfills. This isn’t just some visible eyesore that ruins your beach vacation photos — it’s an invisible crisis that causes immense physical suffering, chemical harm and ecological collapse. In fact, plastic waste in the ocean is estimated to kill over a million marine animals every single year. 

Seabirds, turtles, whales and more, mistake plastic for food

Plastic waste often looks and even “sounds” like food to marine wildlife. Floating bags resemble jellyfish. Plastic pellets mimic fish eggs. Some plastics even reflect sonar in ways nearly identical to squid, confusing echolocating predators.

Among marine animals, seabirds are the most visibly affected. Birds often mistake floating fragments of plastic for potential food, quickly swooping down and consuming the waste. Some studies even estimate that up to 90% of living seabirds have some traces of plastic in their body. These resilient fragments often fill their stomachs, making them feel full while they slowly and painfully starve to death.  

Worse, impacted birds often unknowingly regurgitate plastics to feed their chicks, ensuring that their young inherit a belly full of garbage before they even leave the nest. One study found a sable shearwater chick whose stomach had been contaminated by 778 individual pieces of plastic waste. The chick was so infested by waste, that researchers described a crunching sound that was emitted whenever the chick was moved or handled. 

It isn’t just seabirds suffering, turtles are also highly vulnerable to ingesting plastic waste. Adults sea turtles frequently swallow bags and film mistaking the trash for a jellyfish or small squid. The malleable waste then becomes caught around the throat or in the stomach of the turtle, tearing up the animal’s insides or suffocating and clogging the turtle’s airway.

Research suggests that over half of the world’s sea turtles may have consumed some form of plastic waste. Even more tragically, studies show that ingesting just a single piece of solid plastic waste can be fatal to the turtle 22% of the time.

Marine mammals aren’t safe either. Whales have been found with plastic bags packed into their stomachs, unable to feed or digest. One Cuvier’s beaked whale in the Philippines had swallowed 88 pounds of plastic waste.

Beaked whales, who use echolocation to hunt, are especially vulnerable. Studies show that solid plastic waste, like bags and packaging, have nearly identical acoustic signatures to squid. This means that beaked whales on a hunt don’t see the grocery bag floating in front of them, instead they “see” a tasty squid bobbing about in the water. 

Plastic doesn’t just clog digestive systems. It can cut up an animal’s internal body, trigger infections and cause blockages that ultimately lead to loss of nutrition, starvation and death.

Plastic waste also leaks dangerous toxins

The plastic waste problem is more sinister than just physical debris – once it enters the ocean, plastic waste breaks down and begins leaking pollutants and toxins. The United Nations has identified over 3,000 chemicals used in plastic that are hazardous to the health of aquatic organisms. Substances like DDT, PCBs and mercury are already harmful in small amounts; but in the ocean they can build-up and increase in concentration as it moves up the food chain. 

When marine animals eat plastic, no matter how small, they may also ingest the toxins it carries. Studies of fish and other marine life exposed to microplastic toxicity show a range of deleterious effects, from reduced swimming and feeding ability, to abnormal behavior and even gene damage with harmful effects that can be passed down to offspring.

Especially dangerous are endocrine-disrupting chemicals which hinder the endocrine system’s ability to regulate the hormones responsible for growth, reproduction, development and even behavioral regulation. Even more troubling, these disruptions can cause negative impacts that linger for generations across different individual animals. 

Plastic and its toxins don’t need to enter the body directly to do harm. Leachates, liquids contaminated by plastic waste and its production, are full of dangerous chemicals. When released into surrounding water, this toxic sludge can cause severe harm to exposed wildlife. Leachates often contain chemicals known to be hazardous to both wildlife and human health — including phthalates, bisphenols and flame retardants — yet chemicals like these are frequently dumped into waterways by plastic producers.

Plastic waste also harms coral reefs, which serve as nurseries for much of the ocean’s life. When plastic bags or netting drape over coral they can introduce foreign bacteria into the system. Studies have found that reefs with plastic debris were more likely to show signs of disease, leading to death and eventual ecological collapse.

Outside of physical debris, the effects of chemical pollution are exacerbated by plastic waste, which gives the toxins a vessel in which to enter wildlife and build up in food chains. 

What can we do to reduce plastic waste in our oceans 

Plastic waste, in nearly all its forms, is devastating ocean life. It clogs digestive systems, slices flesh, poisons food chains and facilitates the slow suffering of wildlife. 

This crisis isn’t accidental. Nearly half of all plastic produced is intended for single use, much of it avoidable. Food wrappers, water bottles and shipping material make up a huge amount of what ends up in the sea.

Recycling won’t save us. Only 9% of plastic ever produced has been recycled. The rest has been thrown into landfills, burned or lost to the environment. If current trends continue, ocean plastic waste could triple by 2040, choking off even more wildlife and ecosystems alike; and the impact of this pollution will not be limited to the inhabitants of our seas or shorelines. 

We need upstream change: bans on unnecessary packaging, stronger controls on industrial pollution and corporate accountability for plastic footprints.

The suffering of a turtle shouldn’t be the cost of packaging. No 40 ton whale should die from just a few pounds of plastic. No seabird chick should ever be described as crunching. And most importantly, nothing we use for a few minutes should linger and damage life for centuries after.

This crisis won’t be resolved by recycling bins and good intentions. We need to confront the hard truth: that our disposable, convenience economy is killing our oceans.

That’s why we are urging corporations to reduce their plastic packaging and the waste it produces. Please consider adding your voice and support to this cause, and join us in creating a cleaner, healthier place for all life that calls this planet home.