The Doritos bag found on the Outer Banks last week.

(Cape Lookout National Seashore/Facebook)

At a Glance

The nearly 40-year-old bag was found on a beach at Cape Lookout National Seashore beach.Rangers thought the design of the bag looked 'odd.'Then they noticed the copyright date — 1979.

A nearly 40-year-old Doritos bag washed ashore last week onto an Outer Banks beach in North Carolina.

The bag that is believed to have been floating in the ocean for nearly 40 years washed onto a beach at Cape Lookout National Seashore, the National Park Service .

“This bag was found last week ... on Harkers Island along with other storm debris,” read the post. “The bag design looked odd to us, but we couldn’t put our finger on why until we noticed the date in the lower corner — 1979!”

(MORE: Japan to Resume Commercial Whaling After More Than 30 Years)

The rangers noted in their post that the bag has been floating in the ocean for nearly 40 years, which highlights just how long plastics can remain in the environment.

“While this was sort of a neat find due to its age, it serves as a reminder that plastic trash lasts a long time, in this case almost 40 years!” the National Park Service said.