An explorer dove to the deepest place ever explored by a human inside a submarine only to find litter.
Victor Vescovo, a retired naval officer, said he made the unsettling discovery as he descended almost 6.8 miles (10,928 metres) in the Pacific Ocean’s Mariana Trench.
Vescovo found previously undiscovered species on the dive to where no human had gone before, but said it was “disappointing” to see human contamination on his record-breaking journey to unexplored depths.
Plastic waste has reached epidemic proportions in the world's oceans with an estimated 100 million tonnes dumped there to date, according to the UN.
Vescovo hoped his discovery of rubbish in the Mariana Trench would raise awareness about dumping in the oceans and pressure governments to better enforce existing regulations, or put new ones in place.
"It's not a big garbage collection pool, even though it's treated as such," Vescovo said of the worlds' oceans.
In the last three weeks, the expedition has made four dives in the Mariana Trench in his submarine, "DSV Limiting Factor," collecting biological and rock samples.
It was the third time humans have dived to the deepest point in the ocean, known as Challenger Deep.
Canadian movie maker James Cameron was the last to visit in 2012 in his submarine, reaching a depth of 35,787 feet (10,908 meters).
Prior to Cameron's dive, the first-ever expedition to Challenger Deep was made by the U.S. Navy in 1960, reaching a depth of 10,912 meters
