An ski resort in Italy hopes to become the first in Europe to ban plastic after it found out a nearby glacier contained a significant amount of microplastics.
Pejo 3000, in Val di Sole in Trentino, banned the use of plastic bottles, bags, cutlery, plates, straws, cups and condiment sachets in early December, with other measures due to be enforced.
The resort, which has 12 miles of runs and seven ski lifts and attracted 137,000 guests last winter, says its three mountain huts no longer stock plastic items.
In January, it will remove plastic covers from its one-day ski passes. Passes for longer periods are laminated and rechargeable.
Longer-term, Pejo 3000 plans to improve waste collection, recycling and energy use. The wider Pejo valley uses three small hydroelectric plants, with homes, hotels and public buildings warmed using a wood-chop heating system fed scraps from local forestry operations.
The move was prompted by a study by scientists at the University of Milan and the University of Milan-Bicocca in April which revealed the surface of Forni Glacier, one of the largest valley glaciers in the Italian Alps, contained 131-162m plastic particles, including fibres and polyethylene.
Scientists believe the particles on the glacier originated from visitors’ clothing and equipment and may have been transported there by wind currents.
“This is the first part of a project intended to make the ski area of Pejo 3000 the most sustainable in the Alps,” Fabio Sacco, the general director of the Val di Sole tourist board, told the Guardian.
Christian Casarotto, a glaciologist at the Muse Natural Sciences Museum in Trento, added: “If plastic products reach the mountains, they will remain there for a long period of time, even decades, and they will then transform into environmental and health damage, and enter into the food chain.
“Projects that aim to limit the use of plastic products are urgently needed. They should be applied throughout the Alps.”