> Basically, if it's made out of plastic--doesn't matter the use, the lifetime--it ends up in the river and then the ocean. I'll also say that what you find wa

> Basically, if it's made out of plastic--doesn't matter the use, the lifetime--it ends up in the river and then the ocean. I'll also say that what you find washing up on shore or down river is filtered out by a number of factors. Not all plastics are buoyant (i.e. less dense than water). Most plastic materials are actually really close to neutral, and some are slightly denser than water. That means that containers that get punctured and eventually fill up will simply sink. If those materials end up in surf breaks they will get obliterated and turned into a microplastic dust that will can still be suspended in the liquid. So you won't find them washing up (as much). The lighter plastics that are buoyant will tend to washed up onto shore just by wind and wave action. So the ocean sorts and filters things by their size and density. What you see on shore isn't what's out there in the deep ocean. Case in point: plastic bottles are usually PET, which is denser than water. They will actually sink if they are punctured or without cap. The ones you find usually have a cap on. But the caps are polypropelene and they are generally less dense than water, so they float. That's why you'll always find a zillion more bottle caps and almost never find a plastic bottle without a cap on it, at least from wash up. Makes you realize where all those damn missing bottles are. The ocean floor is fucked.