Plastic levels in Swiss-French lake as high as world's oceans

Source: https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/plastic-levels-swiss-french-lake-high-worlds-oceans-2023-08-25/

Author: Reuters

FOUNEX, Switzerland Aug 25 (Reuters) - Lake Geneva, nestled at the foot of the Alps, has long been considered as a near-pristine body of water, but new research has found that its plastic pollution levels are as high as those in the oceans. Oceaneye, a Geneva-based non-profit that has for more than a decade been scouring the seas to collect plastic fragments, has turned its attention closer to home to landlocked Switzerland. "We compared the levels with the ocean data and reached the conclusion that the microplastic pollution on the lake surface is the same order of magnitude as the oceans," said Pascal Hagmann, the founder and director of Oceaneye.