3. Plastic degradation at sea

3.1 Degradation stages

Plastics are renowned for their stability and durability, especially the so-called "conventional" (as opposed to biodegradable) plastics that have been produced in huge quantities since the 1950s. When they end up as waste in the environment, they will persist there for many, many years. However, these materials are slowly transformed and degraded, according to processes that depend on the environmental conditions in which they are found (soil, river, beach, various ocean compartments). Whatever the nature of the processes involved, degradation will manifest itself on three different scales (figure 3 ):

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