New aerial footage of the infamous mountain of multi-coloured lifejackets on the Greek island of Lesbos has offered an illustration of the sheer scale of the European refugee crisis.

The footage, shared by the BBC, shows a wasteland of tens of thousands of discarded lifejackets and abandoned boats left by migrants and refugees seeking passage to Europe.

With local authorities lacking the resources necessary to safely dispose of the waste material, the pile has been labelled an “ecological time bomb”.

Local fishermen already claim they have been forced to abandon the practice owing to pollution.

One million refugees and migrants arrived in Europe from the Middle East and North Africa in 2015, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reports.

Approximately 850,000 of those sought passage via the Greek islands.

An estimated 49 percent were Syrian, 21 percent Afghan and eight percent Iraqi.

An additional 131,724 people have sought passage to Europe from Turkey this year, 122,637 of which entered the EU through Greece.

More than 1600 migrants have landed in Greece since a landmark EU-Turkey deal on curbing the influx took effect, as Greek authorities scramble to implement complex new rules.

On the island of Lesbos, the main arrival point for migrants crossing the sea from Turkey, officials are struggling to switch from the old system to the new while awaiting hundreds of promised EU reinforcements.

"It won't be easy," Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said.

The EU and Ankara struck a deal last week aiming to cut off the sea crossing from Turkey to the Greek islands.

The agreement, under which all migrants landing on the Greek islands face being sent back to Turkey, went into effect early on Sunday.

But the influx has continued, according to the SOMP agency, which is coordinating Athens' response to the crisis.

The returns and resettlement of Syrian refugees in Europe is set to begin on April 4.