Deepest plastic debris found in the sea
- Who
- Plastic Bag
- What
- 10,898 metre(s)
- Where
- Northern Mariana Islands (Not Applicable)
- When
- October 2018
The deepest plastic debris found in the sea was a plastic bag found at a depth of 10,898 metres (6 mi 1,358 yd 7.11 in) by the Global Oceanographic Data Center (GODAC) of the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), as published in the journal Marine Policy, Volume 96, in October 2018.
The Global Oceanographic Data Center (GODAC) of the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) launched the Deep-sea Debris Database for public use in March 2017.
From the 5,010 dives in the database, 3,425 man-made debris items were counted. More than 33% of the debris was macro-plastic, of which 89% was single-use products, and these ratios increased to 52% and 92%, respectively, in areas deeper than 6000 m. The deepest record was a plastic bag at 10,898 m in the Mariana Trench.