The increasing abundance of plastic pollution in the environment has altered resource subsidies available to freshwater and terrestrial habitats. To understand the fate of plastic pollution in arid landscapes, we investigated the degradation of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) compared to naturally occurring leaves from Plantanus acerifolia ([Aiton] Wild.; London planetree) in terrestrial and freshwater habitats. Specifically, we explored 1) whether leaf and plastic degradation rates differ, and if patterns are consistent across habitats, and 2) how leaf and plastic materials impact terrestrial and aquatic macroinvertebrate communities that colonize leaf packs. To accomplish this, two traditional leaf pack experiments were conducted with three experimental treatments: natural leaves, plastics, and a mix of both materials. Leaf packs were anchored in an ephemeral pond and an arid grassland (n = 55 treatment habitat-1) and subsets were harvested every 1-3 months over a year (n = 3-6 leaf packs treatment-1 habitat-1). Results indicated that plastic leaf packs degraded 115 × faster in the grassland compared to the pond habitat, and natural leaves degraded 1.7 × faster in the pond compared to the grassland. Macroinvertebrates density was similar across leaf packs; however, mixed leaf packs supported greater taxonomic and functional feeding group diversity than plastic and natural leaf packs (all P < 0.001). A second study was conducted with another set of leaf packs anchored in artificial pond mesocosms with differing drought conditions to better understand the effect of pond hydroperiod on plastic degradation. Regardless of pond treatments, natural leaves had the fastest degradation while plastic litter had the slowest degradation rates. These studies provide insights into how varying environmental conditions can impact the degradation rates of plastics in the environment, advancing knowledge on the fates of plastics in terrestrial and freshwater habitats.