Divers have uncovered a plastic bag 36,000ft (10,898m) below the surface of the Pacific in the Mariana Trench, the world's deepest ocean trench.

The plastic bag was one of 3,000 pieces of man made debris discovered by researchers studying records of deep ocean pollution dating back 30 years.

The find, made more than 620 miles (1,000km) from the mainland, reveals the true horror of plastic pollution in the world's oceans, environmental experts warn.

Scientists trawled global data, images and footage to make the discovery.

The carrier bag in question was found deeper than 33 Eiffel towers, laid tip to base and was spotted on May 20 1998.

Information on debris was gathered by numerous international teams working around the world on 5,010 dives, using deep-sea submersibles and remote vehicles.

The plastic bag was singled out as the deepest and most extreme example of ocean debris uncovered by the research team scouring three decades' of evidence.

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This inconspicuous piece of plastic waste was found on May 20, 1998 (pictured). It shows the fragmented remains of a carrier bag that has sunk to the bottom of the world and come to rest at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, some 36,000ft (10,898m) below the surface

The carrier bag in the Mariana Trench was found deeper than 33 Eiffel towers, laid tip to base. The plastic bag was one of 3,000 pieces of man made debris discovered by researchers studying records of deep ocean pollution dating back 30 years

Scientists from the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) in Yokosuka used information from the Deep-sea Debris Database to make the discovery.

It was launched for public use by JAMSTEC's global oceanographic data centre in 2017.

More than a third of debris found was macro-plastic, 89 per cent of which was from single-use products.

More than half of debris in ocean areas deeper than 20,000 ft (6,000m) was plastic, almost all of which was single-use.

WHAT DOES DEEP-SEA DEBRIS DATABASE REVEAL ABOUT OCEAN PLASTIC POLLUTION? Plastic pollution is a scourge that is ravaging the surface of our planet. Now, the polluting polymer is sinking down to the bottom of the ocean. The deepest part of the ocean is found in the Mariana Trench, located in the western Pacific Ocean, to the east of the Mariana Islands. It stretches down nearly 36,100 feet (11,000 metres) below the surface. One plastic bag was found 35,754 feet (10,898 metres) below the surface in this region, the deepest known piece of human-made pollution in the world. This single-use piece of plastic was found deeper than 33 Eiffel towers, laid tip to base, would reach. Whilst the plastic pollution is rapidly sinking, it is also spreading further into the middle of the oceans. A piece of plastic was found over 620 miles (1,000 km) from the nearest coast - that's further than the length of France. The Global Oceanographic Data Center (Godac) of the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (Jamstec) launched for public use in March 2017. In this database, there is the data from 5,010 different dives. From all of these different dives, 3,425 man-made debris items were counted. More than 33 per cent of the debris was macro-plastic followed by metal (26 per cent), rubber (1.8 per cent), ﬁshing gear (1.7 per cent), glass (1.4 per cent), cloth/paper/lumber (1.3 per cent), and 'other' anthropogenic items (35 per cent). It was also discovered that of all the waste found, 89 per cent of it was designed for single-use purposes. This is defined as plastic bags, bottles and packages. The deeper the study looked, the greater the amount of plastic they found. Of all man-made items found deeper than 20,000 feet (6,000 metres), the ratios increased to 52 per cent for macro-plastic and 92 per cent for single-use plastic. The direct damage this caused to the ecosystem and environment is clear to see as deep-sea organisms were observed in the 17 per cent of plastic debris images taken by the study. Advertisement

The results of this study show that deep-sea ecosystems are also being affected indirectly by human activities, according to the UN's Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre in Cambridge (UNEWCMC).

'Deep-sea ecosystems are highly specific to the region they are found in and have a very slow growth rate, making the potential threats from plastic pollution are concerning,' a spokesman said in a written statement.

'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.'

Scientists trawled global data, images and footage to make the discovery. This starfish was discovered living 1,500 ft (457 metres) below the surface on the bottom of the ocean, using a blue tarpaulin for shelter

This plastic bag was found 3,202 feet (976 metres) below sea level and dangerously close to marine organisms. It was spotted as part of the same 30 year study that found the plastic bag at the bottom of the Mariana Trench

How do I get involved with the Daily Mail's Great Plastic Pick Up? There is still time to sign up to the Mail’s Great Plastic Pick Up, which runs this week from the start of Friday, May 11, to the end of Sunday, May 13. Communities will pitch in to help tackle the plastic menace poisoning the country. So far 11,241 people have signed up to take part, with 801 pick-ups organised to take place across the country. To join in, go to greatplasticpickup.org and enter your details. Groups from one person to 100 can register, with children welcome, accompanied by an adult. A Daily Mail team will judge photographs sent in by the Pick Up groups and select three who will win a professional spring clean for their local area worth £10,000. WHERE DO I GET RUBBISH BAGS? The first 3,000 events organised will be sent 30 recycled bags to use for collecting plastic, with an additional 450,000 Pick Up bags available for collection from local councils. HOW DO WE DO IT? Simply gather at the arranged time, check with the organiser and get picking! Plastic bottles and lids go in the blue bags, with caps and labels; metal cans are for the red bags; anything else is for the white sacks. WHAT SHOULDN’T I PICK UP? Never touch syringes, broken glass or large fly-tipped items - instead, tell your council. Steer clear of busy roads. HOW CAN I KEEP INFORMED? Follow the #GreatPlasticPickUp hashtag on Twitter, check greatplasticpickup..org to see a map of Pick Ups across the country, and stay up to date in the Daily Mail. WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? Organisers should log the number of litter bags on greatplasticpickup.org. WILL YOUR SCHOOL WIN A TRIP WITH CHRIS PACKHAM? This is the prize for children and teachers in the top litter-picking school - an all-expenses-paid school trip to a Sea Life Centre with TV host and wildlife expert Chris Packham to see some of the marine life you will have helped. Advertisement

Plastic pollution is emerging as one of the most serious threats to ocean ecosystems.

World leaders, scientists and affected communities have all called for urgent action, but the impacts of plastic pollution are not well understood.

Once in the deep-sea, plastic can persist for thousands of years.

The widespread distribution of single-use plastic, even to the greatest depths of the ocean, reveals a clear link between daily human activities and the remotest of environments, say UNEWCMC experts.

Reducing the production of plastic waste is the only solution to the problem of deep-sea plastic pollution, they warn, recommending a global monitoring network to share the limited data on deep-sea plastic pollution.

The plastic bag, found more than 3,330ft (1,000km) from the mainland, reveals the true extent of plastic pollution on the world's oceans, researchers say. This site may resemble a landfill site, but is in fact off the coast of Japan and 1,900 ft (581 metres) below the surface

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, they add.

More than 33 per cent of the debris uncovered in the study was macro-plastic, followed by metal (26 per cent), rubber (1.8 per cent), ﬁshing gear (1.7 per cent), glass (1.4 per cent), cloth/paper/lumber (1.3 per cent), and 'other' anthropogenic items (35 per cent).

The direct damage this caused to the ecosystem and environment is clear to see as deep-sea organisms were observed in the 17 per cent of plastic debris images taken by the study.

The full findings of the study were published in the journal Marine Policy.