Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA)

At a glance

Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA) is a research center that is part of the pulse of the water sector. Here we bring together everything it publishes on Smart Water Magazine: its news, its blogs and the events it takes part in.

Quantifying microplastics in Swiss rivers and lakes

Every year, 14,000 tons of plastic end up in Swiss soils and waters, in part in the form of microplastics, which are particles in the micro to millimeter range. Microplastics come from many sources, such as cosmetics or synthetic fiber clothing. The tiny particles are also produced by abrasion and decomposition of larger pieces of […]

Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA) · 13 Jun 2023

27 Jan 2022

Plastic snowfall in the Alps

In a new study, Empa researcher Dominik Brunner, together with colleagues from Utrecht University and the Austrian Central Institute for Meteorology and Geophysics, is investigating how much plastic is trickling down on us from the atmosphere. According to the study, some nanoplastics travel over 2000 kilometers through the air. According to the figures from the […]