Here's Francesco Regoli again.

The impact of microplastics in a terrestrial or aquatic environment is really this balance between release and persistence of these materials.

You can estimate that more than 12 million tons of plastics are released every year into the oceans.

The decomposition rate of these materials can range between tens to hundreds of years.

And this is the reason why they are so widely detected and ingested also by marine species.

The effects of microplastics depends on their size, shape and polymer typology.

In terms of impact on the organism, they can have several.

Here's Regoli.