Humanity's toxic addiction to plastic has reached stunning depths, and we only wish we were speaking figuratively. 
 
 A new study analysing over 30 years' worth of data on human-made trash found in the deepest parts of the ocean reveals almost 3,500 pieces of plastic and other debris have been discovered littering these remote, fragile ecosystems. 
 
 If proof were ever needed that there are no more untouched places left on our poor, polluted planet, we now have it in one perfect, twisted symbol: amongst this litany of garbage, the deepest-lurking refuse was a fragmented single-use plastic bag, discarded at a depth of 10,898 metres (35,754 ft) in the Mariana Trench. 
 
 The Mariana Trench is the deepest part of the entire ocean – home to distant, alien forms of marine life we know next to nothing about – but its remote, almost unreachable location doesn't mean we haven't found ways to carelessly spoil it. 
 
 (JAMSTEC) 
 
 In the new study, a team of researchers led by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) analysed the contents of their publicly accessible Deep-sea Debris Database – a vast image archive of ocean trash recorded by deep-sea submersibles and remotely operated vehicles trawling the depths. 
 
 Sifting through the records of 5,010 dives in the database, the team counted 3,425 items of human-made debris, more than a third of which was macroplastic – visible pieces of plastic larger than 5mm, as opposed to smaller microplastics. 
 
 Of this macroplastic debris, almost 90 percent was single-use plastic, which governments around the world are finally, laggardly beginning to address. 
 
 In the case of the world's deepest plastic bag (seen at the top of this page), it was observed almost exactly 20 years ago, on 20 May 1998. In the decades since, its frayed form has probably broken down further into innumerable but persistent microplastics littering the surface of the ocean. 
 
 (JAMSTEC) 
 
 In the thousands of debris images and videos the researchers compiled in their database, deep-sea organisms were observed in 17 percent – damning evidence that our throwaway culture entangles, intermingles, and generally affects ocean life in ways we're not aware of. 
 
 Because the team's dataset only includes a visual record of what's on the sea floor – not what's drifting and sinking above it – the researchers say they've only scratched the (deep) surface of the problem here, although simple physics suggests more garbage is headed this way. 
 
 "As the deep sea is likely to be the final destination of floating plastic debris, the frequent occurrence and widespread distribution of plastic debris in the deep sea, far away from populated coastal areas, indicate that large numbers of plastic debris pieces are distributed throughout the water column and in the high seas," they explain in their paper. 
 
 (JAMSTEC) 
 
 What that means is this research shows only the deepest, most sunken evidence of the ocean's pollution problem. 
 
 Higher up, the same random garbage is killing whales, lodging in coral, congregating in giant, floating patches, and transforming dreamy islands into nightmares. 
 
 The researchers say the only way to stop this problem becoming worse is to regulate the production of single-use plastic and prevent the flow of this dangerous debris from our coastlines. 
 
 Which is another way of saying it's not a single-use planet, guys, and we all really need to wake up. 
 
 The findings are reported in Marine Policy. ||||| This story is part of Planet or Plastic?—our multiyear effort to raise awareness about the global plastic waste crisis. Learn what you can do to reduce your own single-use plastics, and take your pledge. 
 
 The Mariana Trench—the deepest point in the ocean—extends nearly 36,000 feet down in a remote part of the Pacific Ocean. But if you thought the trench could escape the global onslaught of plastics pollution, you would be wrong. 
 
 Here's How Much Plastic Trash Is Littering the Earth 
 
 A recent study revealed that a plastic bag, like the kind given away at grocery stores, is now the deepest known piece of plastic trash, found at a depth of 36,000 feet inside the Mariana Trench. Scientists found it by looking through the Deep-Sea Debris Database, a collection of photos and videos taken from 5,010 dives over the past 30 years that was recently made public. 
 
 Of the classifiable debris logged in the database, plastic was the most prevalent, and plastic bags in particular made up the greatest source of plastic trash. Other debris came from material like rubber, metal, wood, and cloth, and some is yet to be classified. 
 
 Most of the plastic—a whopping 89 percent—was the type of plastic that is used once and then thrown away, like a plastic water bottle or disposable utensil. 
 
 While the Mariana Trench may seem like a dark, lifeless pit, it hosts more life than you might think. NOAA's Okeanos Explorer vessel searched the region's depths in 2016 and found diverse life-forms, including species like coral, jellyfish, and octopus. The recent study also found that 17 percent of the images of plastic logged in the database showed interactions of some kind with marine life, like animals becoming entangled in the debris. 
 
 Where Did the Plastic Come From? 
 
 The new study is just one among many showing just how prevalent plastic pollution has become worldwide. Single-use plastics are virtually everywhere, and they may take hundreds of years or more to break down once in the wild. 
 
 Last February, a separate study showed that the Mariana Trench has higher levels of overall pollution in certain regions than some of the most polluted rivers in China. The study's authors theorized that the chemical pollutants in the trench may have come in part from the breakdown of plastic in the water column. 
 
 Plastic has recently become a greater focus of the environmental movement, being featured prominently this past Earth Day, for example. While plastic can enter the ocean directly, such as trash blown from a beach or discarded from ships, a study published in 2017 found that most of it is flowing into the sea from 10 rivers that run through heavily populated regions. 
 
 Discarded fishing gear is also a major source of plastic pollution, and a study published last March found that the material comprised the bulk of the Texas-size Great Pacific Garbage Patch floating between Hawaii and California. ||||| A new study has revealed that human activities are affecting the deepest part of the ocean, more than 1,000 kilometers from the mainland. 
 
 Plastic pollution is emerging as one of the most serious threats to ocean ecosystems. World leaders, scientists and communities recognize the urgent need for action, but the impacts of plastic pollution are not well understood. 
 
 To raise awareness of the far-reaching effects of plastic pollution, ocean scientists - including those from UN Environment's World Conservation Monitoring Centre - crunched numbers from the Deep-sea Debris Database. The Global Oceanographic Data Centre of the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology launched this database for public use in 2017. It contains over 30 years of photos and videos of debris that have been collected by deep-sea submersibles and remotely operated vehicles. 
 
 The data revealed that, from 5,010 dives, more than 3,000 pieces of manmade debris – including plastic, metal, rubber and fishing gear – were counted. Over a third of debris found was macro-plastic, 89 per cent of which was single-use products. In areas deeper than 6000m, over half of debris was plastic, almost all of which was single-use. 
 
 The study - Human footprint in the abyss: 30 year records of deep-sea plastic debris - also reveals that single-use plastic has reached the world’s deepest ocean trench - a plastic bag was found in the Mariana Trench, 10,898m below the surface. The ubiquitous distribution of single-use plastic, even to the greatest depths of the ocean, reveal a clear link between daily human activities and the remotest of environments. 
 
 Once in the deep-sea, plastic can persist for thousands of years. Deep-sea ecosystems are highly endemic and have a very slow growth rate, so the potential threats from plastic pollution are concerning. There is growing concern that deep-sea ecosystems are already being damaged by direct exploitation of both biological and non-biological resources – through deep-sea trawling, mining and infrastructure development, for example. The results of this study show that deep-sea ecosystems are also being affected indirectly by human activities. 
 
 Reducing the production of plastic waste seems to be the only solution to the problem of deep-sea plastic pollution. A global monitoring network is needed to share the limited data on deep-sea plastic pollution, and impact assessment surveys should be prioritised for biologically and ecologically important areas with high concentrations of plastic debris, and to use ocean circulation models to identify how plastic is travelling from land to the deep-sea. 
 
 #BeatPlasticPollution is the theme of World Environment Day 2018. 
 
 Learn more about our work on oceans and seas. 
 
 This article was originally published by UNEP-WCMC.
– "Single-use plastic reached the world's deepest ocean trench at 10,898 m," states the study plainly, referring to that great scourge: the plastic bag. National Geographic reports that a review of the Deep-Sea Debris Database, an assemblage of photos and videos taken during roughly 5,000 dives conducted over three decades, revealed a plastic bag at the ocean's deepest point, a depth of nearly 36,000 feet in the Mariana Trench. "More like Mariana Trash," quips ScienceAlert. A UN article on the study broke down the numbers: Those 5,000 dives captured more than 3,400 pieces of garbage. While rubber, metal, and cloth were spotted, 33% of debris found was plastic, and 89% of it was from single-use products that, as the name suggests, are used once then tossed. At depths of 20,000 feet or greater, plastic became more dominant, making up more than half the garbage, with nearly all of it being single-use. And the plastic wasn't exclusively found in lifeless areas. "Deep-sea organisms were observed in the 17% of plastic debris images, which include entanglement of plastic bags," per the study, which cites sea anemones, ray-finned fish, and brittle stars seen attached on plastics. "Entanglement of plastic bags [was] detected even in the cold seep communities and its negative impact on these rare ecosystems is [concerning]," continues the study published in Marine Policy. As for how it got there, National Geographic references a 2017 study that found much of it enters the sea via 10 rivers that traverse population-dense areas. (A 2-ton whale was no match for plastic bags.)