When a piece of plastic sinks to the bottom of a river if it is left there will it decompose or create a layer of

Question: When a piece of plastic sinks to the bottom of a river if it is left there will it decompose or create a layer of sediment??
- Keywords:
  material,
  plastic,
  river
Asked by 787envp29 to William, Roberto, Karen, Jasmine, Chinna on 9 Nov 2018. This question was also asked by L.B_1107.
- Karen answered on 9 Nov 2018:
  
  If there was plastic at the bottom of the river it wouldn’t decompose, as it takes plastic hundreds of years to break down. What usually happens is that it will stay in the river and mix with the sediment, and eventually get broken down into what we call “microplastics”, tiny bits of plastic that fish mistake for food. Fish eat microplastics and can pass these on to humans, which is harmful for us all to eat. Plastics might also capture fish or birds and sometimes kill them. As plastic can stay in the river for so long and cause a lot of harm, it’s good for us to try not to use so much plastic around our food and in our shops 🙂
- William answered on 9 Nov 2018:
  
  So it wouldnt decompose for a really long time, sometimes hundreds of years, but would get broken up into smaller pieces called microplastics. These can get eaten for fish as they mistake them for food as they think they are small organisms called plankton 🙂

Question: When a piece of plastic sinks to the bottom of a river if it is left there will it decompose or create a layer of sediment??