170kgs of rubbish collected from Ben
Underpants, a golf tee and fragments of a broken toilet were just some of the items retrieved from the side of Ben Nevis by a hardy team of volunteers during the annual Real3Peaks mountain clean up on Saturday October 13.
An astonishing total of 170 kilograms of rubbish was collected by the team, who carried 34 bags of rubbish back down from the top of the UK’s highest mountain.
In among the usual haul of banana peels, plastic bottles and tissues, the group picked up a number of unusual items, including T-shirts, longjohns, a beach shelter, half a boot, a smashed Christmas bauble and an unused military flare.
Real3Peaks founder Rich Pyne said it was ‘an amazing turn up’, even though some team members missed out due to cancelled ferries.
Spending a total of eight hours on Ben Nevis, the group split into two teams, one covering the red burn area and one covering the summit.
‘The summit itself was a complete mess,’ Mr Pyne explained, ‘which was a real shame as the rest of the hill looked very promising after the clean-up which took place a month ago by the John Muir Trust. We spent an hour there and ended up with approximately three bin bags each. Quite a load to carry for five miles.’
Mr Pyne thanked all of the volunteers for their hard work and thanked the John Muir Trust and Highland Council for the loan and supply of the litter-picking kit.
‘If every person who went on Ben Nevis (approximately 100,000 per year) took down one piece of litter, the hill would be pristine in about 18 months,’ he added.
Litter picks were also held at Bennachie, Aberdeenshire, Ben Lomond and the Fairy Pools on Skye as part of the challenge.