Have you ever wondered where all this plastic we throw out in scandalously unjustified quantities goes? Most of it ends up at sea. And from there, it goes into sea life and the food chain. They're then broken up into microplastics that end up lodged in our bodies and science is still unsure about the long-term consequences of this.

Whilst the truth is very hard to swallow, it’s important that we are aware of what is going on and we find a way to end it. Politico Magazine set out to explain everything we need to know about the issue and we helped to create the visual that opened the article.