Plastic waste at the bottom of the Mariana Trench

Plastic trash has even been found in one of the most inaccessible places on Earth – at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. A recent study by Japanese scientists shows that ocean pollution from plastic waste is becoming an increasingly pressing problem.

According to a recent study analyzing 30 years of data gleaned from more than 5,000 dives, plastic waste, such as disposable advertisingowka, can be found even at the bottom of the Mariana Trench at a depth of 10898 metersow. Scientists have located nearly 3,500 pieces ofoin plastics deposited in these remote ecosystems.

RoThe Mariana Trench is the deepest place on Earth located in the western Pacific Ocean. Stretches over a distance of about 2,000 kilometersow and is part of a huge system of ditchoin oceanic. Row Mariana may seem like a lifeless depth, but there are more creatures there than one might think. A 2016 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) expedition there discovered intermittentotive life forms, including coral speciesow, jellyfish or octopuses.

The remote, almost unreachable location of the Mariana Trench, however, does not mean that plastic waste will not be found thereow. Study shows that marine life interacts with waste. The images show an entanglement of advertisingowks or creatures inhabiting cans.

syndromeoł scientistsoThe garbage from the Japan Environmental Protection Agency’s. Marine Science and Technology Council (JAMSTEC) analyzed the contents of their publicly available database for plastic debrisoin lingering in the deep oceanow. This archive is a huge collection of imagesow recorded by submarines and remotely operated underwater vehicles.

Searching the records in the zesp databaseoł counted 3425 wasteoin whichore are the work of human hands. W¶rod them the most widespread was plastic, and in particularoplastic advertisingorivers – they were the largest sources ofoplastic trash in the deep oceanow. The remaining waste is mainly metals, rubber waste, wood and textiles, and someore not yet classified.

Plastic waste accounts for more than a third of all trash deposited in the ocean depthsow. Nearly 90 percent. of them are disposable products: adowki, bottles, plates, etc.

Researchers say they have shown only a small part of the problem. Databases to whichoThe plastics that scientists have had access to do not, after all, contain everything. It is reasonable to assume that trash lying on the bottom of the oceanow is much more.

This study is just one of many showing how plastic pollution has become widespread across the planet. Plastic trash is everywhere. In February last year, a study was published, according to whichooceanic ditches in someorivers in some places have higher levels of pollution than someore of China’s most polluted rivers. The intensity of polychlorinated biphenylsoin the probkach shellfishoin collected around the Mariana Trench was 50 times higher than the concentration of these compoundsow u crabsow living in the Liao He estuary – one of the most polluted rivers in the Middle Kingdom. Read more about the topics of this research in the text: ocean depthsow polluted to an astonishing degree.

Plastics dumped into the oceanow accumulate in large clusters floating on their surface. A huge island of plastic floating between Hawaii and California called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the largest such concentration of wasteow and are steadily increasing. But similar „dumps” there are more, and they have formed in all oceans. The bigger ones are five, the smaller ones no one counts. If the situation continues as it is today, the amount of plastic in the oceans will triple within 10 years, and by 2050 plastic wasteoin the planet’s waters will outnumber the fish swimming in them.

Scientists say the only way to stop the problem is to regulate the production of plasticoin single-use and judicious management of plastic waste.