Dead whale had 115 plastic cups in its belly

The whale, found in a national park, also had 25 plastic bags, four plastic bottles and assorted other plastic waste inside it.

A stranded whale with plastic in his belly is seen in Wakatobi, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia, November 19, 2018 in this picture obtained from social media. KARTIKA SUMOLANG/via REUTERS
Image: The whale was washed up in Wakatobi, southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia. Pic: Kartika Sumolang
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A whale has washed ashore off the Indonesian coast with almost 6kg of plastic inside it, including 115 plastic drinking cups.

The 31ft sperm whale was found late on Monday in Wakatobi National Park in the country's Sulawesi province.

Park chief Heri Santoso said that, along with the drinking cups, there were four plastic bottles inside the whale.

There were also 25 plastic bags, two flip-flops, a nylon sack and more than 1,000 other pieces of plastic and string.

A stranded whale with plastic in his belly is seen in Wakatobi, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia, November 19, 2018 in this picture obtained from social media. KARTIKA SUMOLANG/via REUTERS
Image: The whale had almost 6kg of plastic inside him. Pic: Kartika Sumolang

Photos published by the World Wildlife Foundation in Indonesia showed locals retrieving the waste, including what appeared to be a broken plate, the top of a plastic bottle, cups and a white plastic bag containing yet more rubbish.

The whale's carcass will be buried later this week.

Dwi Suprapti, a marine species conservation co-ordinator at WWF Indonesia, said: "Although we have not been able to deduce the cause of death, the facts that we see are truly awful."

Greenpeace UK senior oceans campaigner Louise Edge added: "If nature had a distress signal to warn us that it can't take any more of our plastic rubbish, it would look like this - a dead whale with 1,000 pieces of plastic in its stomach.

"Our throwaway culture has turned whales' guts into dustbins for our plastic waste."

Indonesia is the world's second-largest plastic polluter after China and 1.29 million tonnes of its plastic ends up in the ocean, according to Science journal.

Along with the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand, the two countries account for up to 60% of the plastic waste going into the world's oceans, the Ocean Conservancy and McKinsey Center for Business and Environment said in a study three years ago.

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Diver swims through plastic in Bali

Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, Indonesia's co-ordinating minister of maritime affairs, said: "It is possible that many other marine animals are also contaminated with plastic waste and this is very dangerous for our lives."

Indonesia is trying to reduce its plastic waste by 70% by 2025, he said.

A stranded whale with plastic in his belly is seen in Wakatobi, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia, November 19, 2018 in this picture obtained from social media. KARTIKA SUMOLANG/via REUTERS
Image: Indonesia is trying to reduce its use of plastic. Pic: Kartika Sumolang

Shops are being told not to give out plastic bags and school children are also being taught about plastic pollution.

He told The Associated Press: "This big ambition can be achieved if people learn to understand that plastic waste is a common enemy."

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World's plastic buried deep in the ocean

In June a pilot whale died in Thailand with 80 pieces of plastic rubbish in its stomach.

A marine biologist had said that the plastic made it impossible for the whale to eat any nutritional food.

:: Sky's Ocean Rescue campaign encourages people to reduce their single-use plastics. You can find out more about the campaign and how to get involved at www.skyoceanrescue.com

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