Plastics are used in a wide array of consumer and industrial products including toys, household appliances, cosmetics, medical applications, automotive parts, textiles, packaging, and building and construction materials. Limited amounts of plastics are recycled or incinerated, leaving most plastic waste to accumulate in landfills and the environment. Plastic pollution can be found throughout the environment from land to streams and inland waterways to the coast and the ocean. Most plastics do not biodegrade and instead break down from weathering in the environment over time into small particles called microplastics and nanoplastics.

The Source: Food and Drug Administration (FDA)