From Teflon to PET Environmentalists find microplastics in the droppings of Swiss wild animals

Plastic can be found in even the most remote wild animal droppings in Switzerland. A Greenpeace study shows: Microplastics contaminate animals from foxes to wolves - with alarmingly high levels in some cases.

Plastic waste is everywhere - even in the forest. This is shown by a new analysis by the environmental organization Greenpeace. Swiss researchers have found microplastics in the droppings of wild animals: Deer, wild boar, foxes, badgers, hares, chamois, stone martens, deer - even the droppings of a wolf were affected.

For the study, 55 piles of droppings were collected between December 2024 and March 2025 - across Switzerland, on foot, with snowshoes or skis. Fifteen samples were analyzed, which according to Greenpeace were particularly diverse in terms of geography and zoology. They were analyzed by the environmental laboratory of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL).

Deer in Zurich with 4 particles - wild boar in Valais with 646

The results: alarming. Microplastics were detected in 14 of the 15 faecal samples. The 15th sample - from a deer from La Chaux-de-Fonds - was not clearly measurable according to the report, but was also very likely to contain microplastics.

The plastic particles were between 50 µm and 2 mm in size. The analysis also showed that many samples contained several types of plastic - up to ten different types in a single ball of faeces. Polystyrene, Teflon, PET, rubber and ABS were found particularly frequently.

According to the report, the contamination could be facilitated by foraging in the soil (e.g. wild boar) or proximity to human settlements. The results are a snapshot - but a clear one: Microplastics are no longer just a problem for the oceans.

Greenpeace is calling for effective political measures, both nationally and internationally, to curb microplastic pollution quickly. Because even animals in remote regions are not spared.