STOP UNNECESSARY SINGLE-USE PLASTICS Petition was handed over in Bern.
13'187 voices against the plastic wave!
On 28 August 2025, OceanCare and The Trash Traveler turned plastic waste into art in Bern and called on the Swiss authorities to stop the plastic wave. The action made it clear: plastic pollution is massive, it’s visible — and it affects us all.
OceanCare submitted a petition with 13,187 signatures calling on the Swiss Federal Council to use the legal scope provided by the Swiss Environmental Protection Act to ban unnecessary single-use plastics — such as takeaway packaging, plastic bags, and microplastics in personal care products.
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.
TOGETHER AGAINST THE PLASTIC FLOOD
Call on the Swiss government: ban unnecessary plastic use
Switzerland remains a laggard in cutting single-use plastics.
Too much ends up in nature — or is incinerated, releasing harmful emissions. Despite reduction efforts, millions of plastic bags are still consumed each year. Microplastics from personal care products continue to enter the environment and cause long-term harm.
OceanCare calls on the Federal Council to consistently apply the Environmental Protection Act and ban unnecessary single-use plastics such as takeaway packaging, plastic bags and microplastics in personal care and cosmetic products.
FACTS ABOUT PLASTIC POLLUTION IN SWITZERLAND
«Deplasticize» Switzerland!
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.
- 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.