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Researchers associated with the University of Aberdeen have been investigating the effect of plastic on marine life, and have found not only that plastic bags are implicated in the deaths of many beached whales but also that small grains may be as dangerous.

Many undersea creatures are affected, from turtles to sharks, who ingest plastic which then either chokes them or affects their ability to digest food, both of which can lead to death.

Adrian Shephard, a campaigner at conservation charity Marine Life, said: "The supermarkets are the primary culprits. They're giving away these plastic bags which wash out to sea. There isn't a piece of ocean that's not contaminated.

"These micro pieces of plastic they have in things like facial scrubs, which are used as the hard parts to do the exfoliation on people's skin, are also dangerous. They get rinsed off, flow down the sinks and into the ocean, where they end up in the food chain."

Dr Colin MacLeod, research fellow at Aberdeen University, who is an expert in beached whales, said that in 50% of animals washed up, plastic is implicated.

He said: "There was a new species of whale discovered in 1991, called the Peruvian beaked whale. The original scientific paper that wrote about the species mentioned it had a plastic bag wedged in its throat. So even before we knew the species existed, we were affecting it with plastic bags.

"We assume that humans don't have an effect on parts of the ocean far away from shore. But we've started realising that plastic is everywhere in the ocean."...