Delegates gathered in Geneva to debate how to tackle plastic pollution are themselves breathing microplastics, an investigation has shown.
Air sampling in the Swiss city this week detected plastic fibres and fragments in both indoor and outdoor locations, including cafés, public transport and shops.
The study by Greenpeace was carried out during the second week of negotiations on a Global Plastics Treaty, where governments are facing calls to decide whether to curb production at the source.
As negotiators debated inside the Palais des Nations in Geneva over how to tackle the plastics crisis, a researcher carrying a modified personal air monitor moved between cafés, shops, public transport and streets across the city for eight hours.
The results showed that the air they filtered – 1.7 cubic metres in total – contained 165 microscopic particles, 12 of them confirmed as microplastics and three more likely to be synthetic.
These included polyester, nylon, polyethylene, vinyl copolymers and cellulose acetate – materials used in clothing, packaging, furnishings and cables. Many were under 20 microns across, small enough to reach deep into the lungs.
These particles were collected over 8 hours, a person typically breathes much more air in the same time, Greenpeace said, adding that they only analysed particles larger than 10 microns; recent research suggests much smaller microplastics (1–10 µm) are likely to be present in even greater quantities, which are small enough to penetrate deep into the lungs, raising serious health concerns.
“We are breathing in plastic, and it’s getting into our lungs,” said Joëlle Hérin, a campaigner at Greenpeace Switzerland.
“That should be a wake-up call for any government serious about public health and planetary survival.”
The findings show that even in a country ranked among the best in the world for waste management, microplastics are present in the air. Indoors, they can come from synthetic textiles and furnishings; outdoors, they are released by sources including tyre wear, degraded packaging and building materials.
Microplastics have been detected from deep ocean trenches to mountain peaks, and in human blood and animal tissue. Research suggests inhalation can cause inflammation, carry toxic chemicals and transport other pollutants into the body.
Campaigners warn that without binding limits on plastic production, airborne microplastic pollution will continue to grow regardless of waste management efforts. Greenpeace is calling for the treaty to commit to cutting production by at least 75 per cent by 2040, citing industry projections that global output could triple by 2060, much of it for single-use packaging and fast fashion.
However, campaigners say the negotiations have been flooded by lobbyists from fossil fuel and chemicals industries who are trying to undermine the progress.
“Investigations like this show why we need to cut plastic production at the source. But the petrochemical industry continues to push for massive expansion in plastic production, which could triple by 2060,” Graham Forbes, global plastics campaign lead for Greenpeace USA, said.
“Just by walking around their cities, fossil fuel and petrochemical lobbyists are inhaling the plastics that they have produced, giving themselves potential health issues – and that includes here in Geneva as they hammer out the treaty.”
The findings, Greenpeace says, match other urban air studies and underline how pervasive airborne plastic pollution has become – even in Switzerland, which ranks eighth globally for waste management.
Microplastics have been detected everywhere from the deep ocean to Alpine snow and in the faeces of wild mammals in Switzerland.
In cities, they come from sources such as synthetic textiles, tyre wear, packaging, and building materials. Indoors, textiles and furnishings are major contributors.
However, as negotiators haggle over the treaty’s specifics in the final days, it’s unclear whether the first global treaty to tackle plastic pollution will manage to put strict curbs on plastic production.
“We need political courage. Every year we delay means more plastic in the air, water, and our bodies,” Ms Hérin said.
“We need a strong Global Plastics Treaty that cuts plastic production at the source, or it will fail.”
