STÉPHANE HERZOG According to the environmental organisation Pro Natura, Les Grangettes wetland nature reserve, situated on the old Rhône delta at the eastern end of Lake Geneva, serves as a habitat for a multitude of amphibians and insects. The Association for the Safeguarding of Lake Geneva is a joint French and Swiss NGO that combed 25 different parts of the lake’s shoreline and found Les Grangettes to be infested with plastic. “The most ecologically valuable spot on Lake Geneva also happens to be teeming with the most plastic,” it said. “Swiss plastic consumption is high by international standards, so our country certainly contributes to this increasing environmental problem,” concluded a report by the Federal Council in September 2022. Data models show that Swiss consumption has increased to around one million tonnes a year, which corresponds to 120 kg of plastic per capita. The Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) does not provide any other comparative European data. Switzerland generates 790,000 tonnes of plastic waste – a veritable mountain – almost half of which Recycling is not the panacea for Switzerland’s plastic addiction Switzerland consumes a million tonnes of plastic every year, a large proportion of which is incinerated. Only a small amount is recycled. Some 14,000 tonnes end up in the environment. Plastic recycling is increasing, but so is plastic consumption. comes from products used for less than one year. What happens to this waste? More than 80 percent of it is incinerated and converted into energy for district heating networks, among other things. A small proportion is recycled or reused (about 15%). Then you have the 14,000 or so tonnes that go missing every year and find their way into the soil, water and air, according to the Federal Council report. Littering alone accounts for 2,700 tonnes of this total. Almost 50 tonnes of macroplastics end up in our soil due to accidental loss during the transportation stage How clean is Switzerland really? Plastic waste on Lake Geneva’s shoreline, in Le Fort nature reserve near Bouveret. (VD). Photo: Keystone Swiss Review / October 2023 / No.5 18 Nature and the environment
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjYwNzMx