This review focuses mainly on the extent, sources, pathways and effects of plastics and microplastics in LC/LP waste streams, since scientific research in recent years has highlighted the negative effects of plastic contaminants on marine biota; other categories are taken into consideration only when their presence in waste streams could be considered a problem (e.g. smothering of benthic biota). This distinction is made because marine litter includes a large number of materials (e.g. metal, wood, ceramic, glass) that are of less concern to the environment and would not normally act as containers of toxic and harmful substances
