Microplastics found in faeces of Swiss wild animals
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Microplastics found in faeces of Swiss wild animals
Swiss environmentalists and scientists have found microplastics in the faeces of roe deer, deer, wild boar, hares, chamois, foxes, martens, badgers and wolves.
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Plastic contamination affects regions throughout Switzerland, according to a report published on Tuesday by the environmental organisation Greenpeace.
However, there were considerable differences between the faecal samples collected. For example, more than 600 microplastic particles per gram were found in the faeces of two wild boars in cantons Valais and Bern. The faeces of a wolf collected in Graubünden, on the other hand, contained only seven plastic particles per gram, and that of a deer in Zurich contained four.
+ Microplastics could cause problems in high Alpine regions
Researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) analysed 15 faecal samples for the report. They dried the faeces and then dissolved them in hydrogen peroxide. They sieved this mixture through a filter.
The extent of environmental pollution caused by microplastics requires immediate and effective national and international political measures, Greenpeace wrote in the report. This is the only way to reduce the amount of microplastics in the short term, it said.
Translated from German by DeepL/ts
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