BMC volunteers remove 2,765 items of litter from Yr Wyddfa
The Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) Big Clean Up event marks an unprecedented effort to begin to rid the mountain of decades-old litter, including a misplaced Santa hat! Over two days, Friday 20th and Saturday 21st September, dedicated volunteers and specialists undertook a challenging mission to clean one of Wales’ most iconic natural landmarks.
Friday saw an expert abseiling team descend into the Trinity Gullies on Clogwyn Y Garnedd, a steep area on the north-east side of the mountain, to retrieve the ‘waterfall’ of rubbish that had accumulated over many years. This litter collection effort is the first of its kind and saw the team retrieve 2,765 items of litter which included 274 plastic water bottles, and 25 rucksack covers.
Tom Carrick, BMC Access & Conservation Officer for Wales, emphasised the significance of this operation: "It's been amazing to see this finally happen after nearly a year of planning after our initial conversations.
“We've had lots of positive conversations with members of the public walking up and enjoying their own day out. This I still believe is the start of this work, we will look at what we'd do differently in the future, but also how we bring this work out to changing our behaviours and attitudes about what we take into the mountains.
“For me, the most staggering realisation was the amount of single use plastic bottles within the gullies, I look forward to working with my colleagues across Eryri to begin to find a solution to encourage the use of reusable bottles on the mountainside.”
On the Saturday, a 40-strong team of volunteers joined forces in the Upper Glaslyn bowl to collect and sort the rubbish. Equipped with recyclable bags, pickers, and protective gloves, the team worked under the guidance of qualified Mountain Leaders. The collaborative effort included partners Trash Free Trails, Plantlife, Eryri National Park, Cymdeithas Eryri, RAW Adventures, the Baron Hill Estate, and the Snowdon Mountain Railway.
Summary of Findings
Total Items Removed: 2,765
Single-Use Products: 63% (1,737 items)
Most Prevalent Brands:
Lucozade
Redbull
CocaCola/Monster
Single-Use Product Categories:
Drinks containers: 29.3% (809 items)
Snack/food items: 28.7% (794 items)
Most Found Items:
Confectionery Wrappers (300)
Plastic Water Bottles (274)
The event not only aimed to remove single-use pollution but also to educate and empower the outdoor community. The team of volunteers, with support from the experts at Trash Free Trails, were encouraged to document their findings as part of the State of the Trails Report, contributing to broader environmental research and awareness.
Dom Ferris, Founder and Managing Director of Trash Free Trails, said: “Our mission is to connect people with nature through the simple yet meaningful act of removing single-use pollution from the places we love. One of our core values is that we never use blame, shame, guilt, or aggression. This principle is especially important when working on Yr Wyddfa.
“One of the reasons we use the term 'single-use pollution' instead of 'litter' is because we have strong evidence that when these single-use products escape into the environment, they harm our wildlife, flora, and overall experience, thus meeting the definition of pollution.
"A large percentage of what we’ve found in the gullies are single-use products. By focusing on single-use pollution and its effects, we have a real chance of making a difference.”
Despite the success of this clean-up, the BMC acknowledge that much more rubbish remains on Yr Wyddfa. The organisation is committed to continuing their collaborative efforts to maintain the momentum of this project and ensure the ongoing preservation of the mountain's ecology.