Millions of seabirds die annually from plastic ingestion, and millions more experience sublethal welfare harm from plastic in their digestive systems, making marine plastic pollution one of the largest wildlife welfare crises globally.
Marine plastic pollution causes welfare harm at a scale and across a breadth of species that is difficult to fully comprehend. For individual seabirds, the experience of digestive blockage, malnutrition, and toxicity from plastic ingestion represents prolonged suffering that ends in death for millions of individuals annually. The welfare case for addressing marine plastic pollution is inseparable from the conservation case — species like albatrosses, already under pressure from longline fishing bycatch and habitat change, cannot afford the additional mortality and reproductive failure that plastic ingestion adds. Systemic solutions including extended producer responsibility legislation and single-use plastic bans are more effective than individual action alone, though consumer behaviour change reduces demand and political engagement drives policy.