Each year, 50 tonnes of plastic is washed up on the shores of Lake Geneva, posing a growing threat to the fragile ecosystem, according to a study carried out by the Association for the Safeguarding of Lake Geneva.
The study saw 100 volunteers picking up plastic waste on 18 Swiss beaches and seven French beaches.
In total, nearly 7,500 pieces of plastic were collected on more than 1,500 metres of shoreline.
Food packaging came top of the waste plastic list, followed by crafting beads and cotton buds.
The study found that much of the plastic waste that is washed up is getting smaller and smaller, with nearly half of the plastics visible to the naked eye being unidentifiable.
Suzanne Mader-Feigenwinter, general secretary of the Association, says that there is a massive presence of microplastics on shorelines, such as textile fibres, microbeads or fragments of larger pieces, which are increasingly difficult to collect and risk entering the food chain.
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