Skip to main content
Search
  • deDeutsch
  • enEnglish

OceanCare – OceanCare

  • HOME
  • OCEAN CONSERVATION
    • Plastic Pollution
    • UNDERWATER NOISE POLLUTION
    • DEEP-SEA MINING
  • ANIMAL & SPECIES CONSERVATION
    • Whales
    • Fish
    • Animal Rescue
    • Collisions
    • Aquatic Wild Meat
  • TAKE ACTION
    • Because Our Planet is Blue
    • Petitions
    • I Care
    • Research Expeditions
    • Tips
    • Newsletter
  • ABOUT OCEANCARE
    • Milestones
    • People
    • Mission statement
    • International Cooperation
    • Networks and Partners
    • Media
    • Annual Reports
    • Contact
  • STORIES & NEWS
    • Stories
    • News
    • Press Releases
    • Publications
  • DONATIONS
    • Donation
    • Event Donation
    • Memorial Donation
    • INHERITANCE & LEGACY

STOP UNNECESSARY SINGLE-USE PLASTICS Sign petition now!

Our nature is not a waste dump!
Stop unnecessary single-use plastics.

Switzerland has a plastic problem: Swiss consume an average of 127 kg of plastic per person annually. That’s almost three times the world average.

Therefore we are calling for a stop to unnecessary single-use plastics!

We appeal to the Federal government to apply the Environmental Protection Act consistently: Unnecessary single-use plastic items such as takeaway packaging, plastic bags and microbeads in care and cosmetic products must be banned in Switzerland.

Waste Nature, Plastic Petition Switzerland, OceanCare
of plastics annually
127 kg

consumes every person in Switzerland.

of plastics annually
14000 t

end up in the Swiss environment.

of microplastics annually
20 t

enter the ocean via Swiss rivers.

of plastic waste
90 %

is incinerated in Switzerland. Only about 10-15% is recycled or reused.

SUPPORT OUR CALL FOR ACTION
WITH YOUR SIGNATURE

Cleanup Day 2021

Please sign this petition, even if you live outside of Switzerland.

Each signature counts!

    12,527out of 15,000
    Signatures

    I mobilise so that the signature target is quickly reached.

    Please share the petition in your network:
    Together we will reach our next milestone of 15,000 signatures. Every signature strengthens our demands towards the Swiss federal government.

    TOGETHER AGAINST THE PLASTIC FLOOD

    Support our call with your signature

    Switzerland can easily do without unnecessary single-use plastics such as take-away packaging, plastic bags and microbeads in personal care products!

    Swiss consume an average of 127 kg of plastic per person annually. That’s almost three times the world average. 85-90 % of these plastics in Switzerland are incinerated after only a short period of use and are not recycled, let alone reused. Compared to the actions taken on banning single-use plastics in the EU, Switzerland is lagging far behind. This needs to be changed.

    Considering that,

    • An increasing share of our throw-away plastic consists of take-away packaging and items which are practically impossible to recycle and therefore end up incinerated – which is far less clean than often claimed – or littered into the environment;
    • Single-use plastic bags remain omnipresent in Switzerland. Notwithstanding reductions, we still use tens of millions of plastic bags per year;
    • Indisputable evidence shows the long-term harm caused by microbeads added to cosmetic and personal care products continuously leaking out into the environment,


    we call on Swiss authorities to finally take decisive action.

    In each of these cases, federal authorities have the authority and discretionary power to take measures to prohibit the use of these superfluous, unnecessary plastics. It is time for the government to assume its responsibility.


    Support our call with your signature

    While the Swiss government is proactive within international fora to address plastic pollution, we call on the Swiss federal government to be consistent in its policy and act on national level, too. Stop shifting away your responsibility, but apply the instruments already in place within the Environmental Protection Act! Under this law, the Federal Council can ban the single-use plastic items, such as take-away items and plastic bags from the Swiss territory, independent of the material used, and can stop the sale of cosmetic and personal products containing microbeads in Switzerland. We call upon the government to do so.

    Petition: Plastic Matters with Federal Parliament as subject

    FACTS ABOUT PLASTIC POLLUTION IN SWITZERLAND

    «Deplasticize» Switzerland!

    Plastic Petition Switzerland Kappelbrücke Lucerne

    How bad is the plastic situation in Switzerland? What leeway does Swiss legislation allow to stem the tide of plastic? What can and must the Swiss government do? Find out more here. Thank you for signing the petition and also motivating people around you to do so.

     

    dOWNLOAD eXECUTIVE sUMMARY
    dOWNLOAD FULL rEPORT
    • 14,000 tons of macro- and microplastics end up in the Swiss environment every year. Most of this comes from tyre abrasion (8,900 tonnes) followed by littering (2,700 tonnes).
    • Littering is not just a water problem. According to the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, 100 tonnes of macroplastics are emitted to waters each year in Switzerland, compared to 4,400 tonnes deposited to soils.
    • A 2013 study of Swiss lakes found microplastics in almost every sample.
    • About 55 tonnes of plastic enter Lake Geneva every year. A large part of this in the form of microplastics. This adds up 580 tonnes already accumulated in the lake.
    • In the Rhine at Basel, an average of 238,887 microplastic particles per km2 have been measured, and the Rhône is estimated to transports an estimated 10 kg of microplastics to France every day.
    • An estimated 53 tons of microplastics have by now accumulated in floodplains in Swiss nature reserves.
    • Considerable amounts of microplastics have been detected in the snow of the Alps as well as remote mountain lakes.
    aLL PLASTIC POLLUTION FACTS

    publications & more facts

    Plastic Pollution: 10 Urgent Demands from Swiss NGOs to the Federal Council
    PDF
    Plastics: Swiss Environmental Protection Act and Plastics – Summary Report ‘Making the EPA Matter’ (2024)
    7 pages, PDF
    Plastics: Swiss Environmental Protection Act and Plastics – Report ‘Making the EPA Matter’ (2024)
    62 pages, PDF
    Oceans – Sustainable Food: UNCLOS ICP – Submission (2024)
    4 pages, PDF
    Oceans – Food Security: UNCLOS ICP – Opening Statement (2024)
    1 pages, PDF
    Pollution: E-Cigarettes – Factsheet (2024)
    6 pages, PDF
    Load more

    PLASTICS MATTERS.
    JOIN US IN SUPPORTING MARINE CONSERVATION.

    About OceanCare

    OceanCare has been committed to marine wildlife protection since 1989.

    The organisation holds Special Consultative Status on marine issues with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.

    Service
    • Contact
    • Annual reports
    • Media
    • Statutes
    • Legal Disclosure
    • Data Protection
    Content
    • Ocean Conservation
    • Species Conservation
    • Take Action
    • OceanCare
    • Petitions
    • Stories & News
    Donations

    OceanCare
    Gerbestrasse 6
    CH-8820 Waedenswil (Switzerland)

    UBS, formerly Credit Suisse, CH-8810 Horgen
    CH83 0483 5040 8744 0000 0
    BIC: CRESCHZZ80A

    Electronic message in a bottle

    Subscribe to OceanCares e-newsletter and swim along on our news wave.

    Subscribe to newsletter
    Facebook Instagram Bluesky LinkedIn Youtube
    nach oben
    Petition: Because our planet is blue, OceanCare

    Every year, approximately 9 million tons of plastic end up in the ocean – a deadly trap for millions of ocean inhabitants. Together we can stop the plastic wave and create a clean and healthy ocean.

    Sign the petition here
    Petition: Because our planet is blue, OceanCare
    High vessel speeds at sea lead to deadly collisions with whales. Together, we can protect their lives. The time to act is now.
    Sign the petition here
    Petition: Because our planet is blue, OceanCare

    The use of destructive fishing gear is one of the biggest threats to marine ecosystems. Together we can stop destructive fishing practises and protect the ocean and their inhabitants. The time to act is now.

    Sign the petition here
    Petition: Because our planet is blue, OceanCare

    Oil and gas exploration threatens marine ecosystems and life in the ocean. Together we can enforce a ban and protect our ocean. The time to act is now.

    Sign the petition here
    Petition: Because our planet is blue, OceanCare

    The deep sea is a unique habitat full of secrets and life. Resource extraction threatens to irreversibly destroy this treasure. Together, we can protect the deep sea. The time to act is now.

    Sign the petition here