Page "Marine debris" Paragraph 5

Researchers classify debris as either land or ocean-based ; in 1991, the United Nations Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Pollution estimated that up to 80 % of the pollution was land-based.

A wide variety of anthropogenic artifacts can become marine debris ; plastic bags, balloons, buoys, rope, medical waste, glass bottles and plastic bottles, cigarette lighters, beverage cans, styrofoam, lost fishing line and nets, and various wastes from cruise ships and oil rigs are among the items commonly found to have washed ashore.

Six pack rings, in particular, are considered a poster child of the damage that garbage can do to the marine environment.