Plastics are a ubiquitous class of synthetic polymer materials used in virtually all commercial and industrial sectors. The majority of global plastics consists of polymers with carbon–carbon backbones, whose environmental persistence and low cost have resulted in a massive reservoir of plastic waste that resides in landfills and the environment. Although plastic debris contaminating the ocean has been documented for decades, details about plastic debris composition, distribution, impact and ultimate fate in the environment remain elusive. In this Review, we present an overview of environmental plastic contamination and discuss the origin (feedstock) and degradation behaviour of plastics to help inform material design principles addressing end-of-life management. We argue that designing materials to be ‘marine biodegradable’ or universally biodegradable is not, in itself, a solution to plastic pollution. Instead, material and product design principles must include a feasible plan for recovery and treatment based upon existing (or, possibly, simultaneously developed) systems.

塑料是一种无处不在的合成聚合物材料，几乎用于所有商业和工业部门。大多数全球塑料由具有碳-碳骨架的聚合物组成，其环境持久性和低成本导致大量塑料废物储存在垃圾填埋场和环境中。尽管塑料垃圾污染海洋的记录已有数十年之久，但有关塑料垃圾成分、分布、影响和环境最终归宿的详细信息仍然难以捉摸。在这篇评论中，我们概述了环境塑料污染，并讨论了塑料的来源（原料）和降解行为，以帮助告知解决报废管理的材料设计原则。我们认为，将材料设计为“可海洋生物降解”或普遍可生物降解的材料本身并不是解决塑料污染的方法。相反，材料和产品设计原则必须包括基于现有（或可能同时开发的）系统的可行的回收和处理计划。