Every year thousands of birds, seals, dolphins and marine mammals die by swallowing or becoming entangled in rubbish, the organisation said.

BBC: St Cyrus beach clean-up volunteers sought

Crabs and other marine invertebrates die when the water is too cold, because they cannot flush magnesium out of their systems.

CNN: Ice shelf collapse: What does it mean?

Plastics affect our health and the lives of the estimated 1 million seabirds, 100, 000 marine mammals and sea turtles that die every year when they entangle themselves in marine debris or ingest it.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Max A. Galeai, 42, of American Samoa, commander of the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, and one of the highest-ranking American officers to die in Iraq this year.

CNN: U.N. health agency to open Baghdad headquarters