What's the impact of single-use plastics on ocean ecosystems?

Single-use plastics are breaking down into microplastics that get ingested by fish and marine mammals, damaging their digestive systems and entering the food chain all the way up to larger predators and eventually humans. The sheer volume of plastic trash creates dead zones where sunlight can't penetrate and oxygen depletes, while plastic bags and six-pack rings directly entangle and kill wildlife like sea turtles and dolphins. Coral reefs are particularly vulnerable since plastics introduce disease-carrying bacteria and block the light that symbiotic algae need to survive. The real problem is that most of this plastic persists in the ocean for decades or centuries, so even if we stopped all plastic pollution tomorrow, we'd still be dealing with the damage for generations.