Lake Geneva is up to 656 times more polluted by microplastics than previously thought, according to a new University of Lausanne and EPFL study
The team developed a method to detect ultra-fine particles smaller than 100 micrometres — the width of a thick human hair — invisible to traditional surface nets.
Those fragments make up as much as 97% of the lake's total plastic pollution.
Lead researcher Christel Hassler warns that particles this small can enter human cells and may affect health.
Swiss wastewater plants filter out 99% of microplastics, but two-thirds come from diffuse sources — tyre wear, synthetic textile washing and rainwater runoff — that never reach the treatment plant.
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