A pregnant sperm whale that washed up dead on a popular tourist beach had ingested 22kg of plastic waste.
The majestic mammal had plates, shopping bags, fishing lines and a box of washing detergent in its stomach when it was found in the tourist hotspot of Porto Cervo, in Sardinia, Italy.
Heartbreaking pictures show the expectant mother's remains being removed from the shore.
It is believed she became unable to digest her food after two thirds of her stomach became clogged with plastic waste.
Shocked marine experts said it was the first time they had seen such a "huge quantity of waste" in an animal.
The 20 foot whale was winched from the sand by non-profit organisation SEAME Sardinia for a post mortem.
Spokesperson for the organisation, Luca Bittau, told Sky News: "Plastic in the oceans is a huge problem, we can remove the plastic in the surface but we can't do anything about the plastic at the bottom of the oceans.
"All the plastic is there and it will be there for ever.
"We have to reduce the use of plastic in our daily life, especially the single-use plastic. We have to change our habits and use other materials like wood."
Italy's environment minister vowed to tackle marine litter in a Facebook post.
He said: "Marine litter afflicts the whole marine world, not just Italy of course, but every country in the world has the duty to apply policies to combat it."
Plastics are one of the biggest threats to marine wildlife, according to the World Wildlife Foundation.
The organisation said around 500,000 tonnes of plastic waste ends up in Europe's oceans every year.
The European Parliament last week gave the green light to a new law which will see the single-use plastic products banned.
Plastic cups, straws and plates will be slowly phased out from 2021, it is believed.
The heartbreaking discovery comes just days after a whale was found dead after swallowing more than six stone (40kg) of plastic pollution.
The Cuvier's beaked whale had "the most plastic we have ever seen in a whale," a marine biologist said.
Workers were horrified when they found hundreds of plastic items in the whale's stomach after it washed ashore Compostela Valley, the Philippines, on March 16.
Recovered from inside the beaked whale were 16 rice sacks, four plastic bags used in banana plantations, multiple shopping bags, and hundreds of other small pieces of plastic packaging.