Two divers joined many others in retrieving garbage from Lake Thun on Saturday.
Image: Keystone
Shortly after the start of the Lake Thun clean-up operation, divers brought the first garbage to the surface.
Image: Keystone
Divers bring litter ashore from the lake in Gunten on Saturday.
Image: Keystone
Divers put waste from Lake Thun into collection nets to bring the contents ashore.
Image: Keystone
Two divers joined many others in retrieving garbage from Lake Thun on Saturday.
Image: Keystone
Shortly after the start of the Lake Thun clean-up operation, divers brought the first garbage to the surface.
Image: Keystone
Divers bring litter ashore from the lake in Gunten on Saturday.
Image: Keystone
Divers put waste from Lake Thun into collection nets to bring the contents ashore.
Image: Keystone
More than 70 divers and dozens of helpers took part in a coordinated campaign on Saturday to remove waste from the right bank of Lake Thun between Hilterfingen and Gunten. The Swiss Underwater Sports Association was behind the "lake clean-up".
13.12.2025, 11:59
13.12.2025, 12:02
SDA
Around 120 divers and helpers responded to its call, as Martin Michel, president of the local organizing committee, told the media in Gunten on Saturday. On this foggy morning shortly after ten o'clock, 77 divers climbed into the water, which was around eight degrees cold at the surface, at eleven locations.
The association already carried out a cleaning campaign on Lake Thun last year. This year, the focus is on places that can only be reached via the many private properties with access to the lake. Beforehand, the association obtained the consent of the property owners to enter the site, as Michel explained. The operation has also been agreed with the authorities, the lake police and BLS Schifffahrt.
A volume of around one cubic meter of waste is expected per diving site. The Thun waste disposal company AVAG will remove the waste free of charge.
Environmentally harmful items such as chemicals, oils, tires, batteries and plastic are removed from the water. Things that are not harmful remain in the water, such as bricks or jars that are now inhabited by aquatic animals.
Divers in teams of two
The divers also came across larger objects last year, such as a boiler that was probably disposed of many years ago. A special team is needed to recover such large finds. Ammunition has also been found. In this case, the police were called in.
He has the impression that less waste ends up in the lake these days. But there are numerous contaminated sites, as people used to simply dispose of all sorts of things in the lake without a second thought, Michel pointed out.
Diving took place on Saturday in teams of two and at a maximum depth of 15 meters. The first tires were recovered from the water shortly after the event began.
The Swiss Underwater Sports Association has been the umbrella organization for underwater sports since 1957. It brings together sports such as diving, freediving/apnoea, underwater rugby, underwater field hockey, mermaiding and finswimming. Among other things, it also coordinates cross-club and cross-dive shop cleaning campaigns such as the one on Lake Thun.
