Italy launches Europe's first plastic free ski resort

It comes after scientists discovered one of the largest glaciers in the Italian Alps contained particles from visitors’ clothing

Scientists have discovered particles of plastic on a glazier on the Italian Alps. Getty Images / Aurora Creative

Italy is hoping to create Europe’s first plastic free ski resort.

The move was prompted after scientists discovered one of the largest valley glaciers in the Italian Alps contained a significant amount of microplastics.

Since the slopes opened at the Pejo 3000 resort in Val di Sole in December plastic has been banned.

The mountain huts that service the thousands of visiting skiers have stopped using plastic bottles, bags, straws and cups.

Even its ski passes are now laminated and in January it will remove plastic covers from its day passes.

"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 newspaper.

In April it was revealed the surface of Forni Glacier contained between 131 to 162 million plastic particles.

Scientists at the University of Milan and the University of Milan-Bicocca believe the particles originated from visitors’ clothing and equipment.

Christian Casarotto, a glaciologist at the Muse Natural Sciences Museum in Trento, told the paper: “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.”