There’s plastic trash 36,000 feet under the sea

• Research shows that plastic accounts for nearly 89% of the debris in the deep-sea.
• 17% of the images of plastic from the Deep-Sea Debris Database show plastic negatively impacting with wildlife.

Even the deepest point in the ocean, the Mariana Trench, is not free from plastic trash. Scientists exploring the Deep-Sea Debris Database, a collection of photos and videos of dives over the past 30 years, found plastic bags even 36,000 feet down under.

The database was only recently made public and encompasses a collection of 5,010 dives. It can classify different kinds of debris like rubber, metal, wood, and of course, plastic. The data shows that plastic is the most prevalent type of debris, with plastic bags being the main component. Most of the plastic that was detected, almost 89% of it, was categorised as the use and throw kind of plastic, like water bottles and cutlery.

The study goes a step further to show how 17% of the images show marine life interacting with this debris. In most cases, it was of animals getting entangled in the garbage.

This isn’t the first time that the Mariana Trench has been in the news to prove how widespread the problem of pollution can become. Just last year, scientists found that pollutants in the Mariana Trench exceeded those in the Liaohe River, one of the most polluted rivers in China.

Plastic pollution is a global crisis that some say needs to be regulated with an international agreement on par with Paris climate accord. The issue isn’t of trash being an eyesore, but of increasing instances of their negative impact on wildlife. Examples include how 90% of oceanic birds have plastic in their stomach and the ever growing Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the world’s largest collection of floating trash between Hawaii and California. It’s bigger than the size of Texas, no-joke.

Earth Day 2018 was dedicated to plastics and how to decrease their adverse effects. But, it will take a lot more than just one day to undo the pollution amassed over the past 200 years.