While many sewers end up clogged with fatbergs made up of grease and diapers, it seems Switzerland's waste system is flecked with silver and gold.

Researchers last year detected 3 tonnes of silver and 43 kg of gold in effluent and sludge from waste water treatment plants - amounting to around 3 million Swiss francs (€2.6 million).

They believe the flecks of gold flow into sewers from the country's famous watchmaking industry and gold refineries.

Levels of gold in sewage from Ticino in southern Switzerland were sufficiently high for recovery to be "potentially worthwhile," researchers wrote. 

The precious metals are not the only valuable thing discovered inside Swiss sewers.

Just last month, authorities opened an investigation after discovering that toilets in a Geneva bank and three restaurants were blocked by more than €100,000 in cash.

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