Microplastics are now found in every ecosystem on Earth, from deep ocean trenches to Arctic ice. Their welfare impacts on wildlife range from physical blockage to endocrine disruption.
Microplastic contamination is a diffuse but pervasive welfare threat affecting billions of individual animals across all marine and freshwater ecosystems. Unlike acute pollution events, microplastic welfare harm accumulates over years through reduced fertility, immune suppression, and chronic inflammation. The welfare impacts compound with other stressors — climate change, overfishing, and habitat degradation — creating cumulative pressure that reduces animal resilience. The welfare response requires systemic pollution reduction through plastic taxation, single-use plastic bans, improved wastewater treatment, and extended producer responsibility schemes — individual behaviour change alone is insufficient at the scale of the problem.