Paying the price for past pollution policy

Thousands of tons of waste dumped in a landfill site near Fribourg between 1952 and 1973 is now threatening river life in the area.

Experts say the case is typical of past environmental practices in Switzerland, when no protection laws existed. Many more sites are said to be affected.

Waste disposal sites like La Pila, in French-speaking Switzerland, were the norm mid last century, when the country was undergoing a period of economic growth.

"Nobody realised that the environment had a limited capacity to absorb harmful substances," said Marc Chardonnens, head of the canton Fribourg environment office.

Waste was simply dumped anywhere with no anti-pollution measures taken, he added.

At La Pila around 240,000 cubic metres of industrial and domestic waste products was tipped into the site. In 1973, when the dump was closed, it was simply covered over with soil – as was usual at the time.

"We don't know for certain what exactly is underground. It was not obligatory to keep a register of waste in landfills," Chardonnens told swissinfo.

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