The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Huge clean-up job removes rubbish from UK’S highest peaks
ENVIRONMENT: Volunteers reveal mountain of waste found on Ben Nevis
More than 264lbs of rubbish – including tampons and panty liners – was removed from Britain’s highest mountain by volunteers at the weekend.
It was more like Bin Nevis than Ben Nevis after the mountain attracted another 100,000-plus walkers this year – and not all of them rubbish conscious.
Ben Nevis – and for the first time other Scottish peaks – was cleaned up by an army of volunteers on Saturday as they removed the plethora of rubbish left behind by the country’s highest litter louts.
The spruce-up of 4,411-feet Ben Nevis was part of a combined effort to tidy Scotland’s, Wales’ and England’s three highest peaks.
The Real 3 Peaks Challenge took place on Ben Nevis, Snowdon in Wales and Scafell Pike in England.
The event has in the past removed 1.8 tonnes of litter from the popular mountains. This year, alongside the ‘big
“Themost ridiculous find was the chewing gum ... one whole bag full this time
three’ peaks, seven additional areas got deep cleaned too.
“Finally reaching the car park, we had a chance to see and weigh what we had removed ... 21 bags weighing in at 120kgs (264.5lbs),” said the organiser’s report.
“Most of the rubbish we had was small, but very dense.
“Tissues galore, banana peel, orange peel, bottle tops, tampons and panty liners, sweet wrappers, foil, crisp and sandwich wrappers, plaque, some flags, bits of walking poles, pasta pots, and some very old tin can drinks, mostly just the tops as the bodies had rusted to nothing.
“The most ridiculous find was the chewing gum ... one whole bag full this time.”
This year the clean up also happened on Lochnagar, Cairngorm, Ben Macdui, Ben Lomond, Goat Fell on Arran and two areas of the Peak District.
“Initially, my aim was to complete a Real 3 Peaks Challenge myself, cleaning each hill, one after the other, but I soon realised that wouldn’t be effective enough to make a difference,” said Rich Pyne, founder of the Real 3 Peaks Challenge
“So I soon got together a modest group of like-minded mountain leaders, used to working in the outdoors with individuals and groups, to manage each mountain.”