A pregnant sperm whale was recently found dead on the Sardinian coast with more than 20 kilos of plastic waste in her stomach, the World Wildlife Fund said in a statement on 1 April

The content of its stomach included disposable dishes, a corrugated tube, shopping bags, and a detergent package. This was the second whale to have washed up on shore in the last several months after having died with massive quantities of plastic waste in its stomach. In Spain last year, a similar situation saw a whale die with more than 30 kilos of plastic trash in its body.

Europe dumps 150,000 to 500,000 tonnes of plastics and 70,000-130,000 tonnes of microplastics in the sea every year, according to a report published by the World Wildlife Fund in June 2018.

The Mediterranean has some of the highest levels of microplastic pollution levels in the world, which is why the European Parliament recently voted for a blanket ban on single-use plastic products by 2021, including straws, cutlery, and plates.