A pregnant whale that washed up in Sardinia, Italy, last week had 22 kilograms of plastic in its stomach, and was carrying a dead fetus, CNN reported.

The dead animal, which was eight meters long, washed up on a beach in the Sardinian tourist hotspot of Porto Cervo. The beached mammal's remains contained "garbage bags, fishing nets, lines, tubes, the bag of a washing machine liquid still identifiable, and other objects no longer identifiable."

Sergio Costa, Italy's environment minister,  also referred to the recent approval by the European Parliament of a law banning a wide-range of single-use plastic items, such as straws, cotton buds and cutlery, by 2021.

"Italy will be one of the first countries to implement it," he promised. "The war on disposable plastic has begun. And we won't stop here."