14’000 tons per year
This is how Switzerland performs in the plastic waste comparison
Oceancare looked at the plastic waste balance of European countries. Switzerland does not do well at all. The marine protection organization now sees the Federal Council as having an obligation to change something.
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According to a new report, every Swiss person produces almost 95 kilograms of plastic waste a year.
According to a new report, every Swiss person produces almost 95 kilograms of plastic waste a year. Switzerland thus produces more waste per capita than its direct neighbors Germany, Austria, France and Italy.
This is according to a report published on Monday by the marine conservation organization Oceancare. The international organization based in Switzerland relied on data from the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), which are based on estimates from 2010.
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14,000 tons of plastic annually
According to Oceancare, part of this plastic waste ends up in fields, forests, rivers or lakes. The disposal of this plastic that is disposed of in the environment costs the country 200 million francs a year. In addition, some of this waste cannot be collected because it ends up in the environment as so-called microplastics. These are microscopic plastic particles.
According to the Oceancare report, 14,000 tons of macro and micro plastic end up in the environment in Switzerland every year. Most of this comes from tire abrasion (8900 tons) followed by litter (2700 tons). Around 55 tons of plastic end up in Lake Geneva every year, a large part of it in the form of microplastics. This means that 580 tons have accumulated in the lake to date.
Is it because of the Swiss laws?
According to Oceancare, another problem is the sheer consumption of plastic. According to the report, every Swiss citizen consumes 127 kilograms of plastic every year. 85 to 95 percent of this would be incinerated and not recycled or reused.
According to Oceancare, the Swiss legal situation is part of the problem. “Switzerland brings up the rear in Europe when it comes to measures against plastic waste. The Swiss population itself also clearly wants interventions, as our current survey shows. It is now up to the Federal Council to systematically solve the plastic problem,” said Fabienne McLellan, CEO of Oceancare, in a statement. (SDA)