Marine plastic pollution: ecological risks, environmental distribution, and sustainable mitigation perspectives

Marine plastic pollution has become a major environmental challenge affecting marine biodiversity, ecosystem stability, environmental quality, and human well-being across coastal and oceanic ecosystems. Increasing plastic production, ineffective waste management, urbanization, and transboundary transport processes have accelerated the accumulation of macroplastics, microplastics, and nanoplastics in aquatic environments. This review critically evaluates the major sources, transport pathways, environmental distribution, ecological impacts, socio-economic implications, and mitigation strategies associated with marine plastic contamination. Plastic pollutants primarily originate from municipal waste discharge, riverine transport, fisheries, aquaculture, industrial activities, wastewater effluents, and maritime operations, followed by widespread redistribution through hydrodynamic and atmospheric processes. Major ecological consequences include entanglement, ghost fishing, ingestion, trophic transfer, oxidative stress, endocrine disruption, habitat degradation, pathogen dispersal, and biodiversity decline. Plastic contamination additionally threatens fisheries productivity, seafood safety, tourism economies, public health, and ecosystem-service sustainability. Current mitigation approaches increasingly emphasize circular-economy transition, extended producer responsibility, international governance frameworks, ecosystem-based management, and advanced environmental monitoring technologies. However, substantial challenges remain regarding policy implementation, recycling efficiency, technological inequality, and transboundary waste leakage. Integrated environmental governance, sustainable production systems, scientific monitoring, and evidence-based mitigation strategies are therefore essential for improving long-term marine environmental quality and reducing global plastic contamination.