400 litter pickers, 2000 bin bags, over 50 clean up events and the removal of lots of rubbish! That’s what the BMC’s Hills 2 Oceans Campaign has achieved so far. But the campaign is still ongoing and we want more volunteers to take part in clean up events throughout the rest of the year and across the country.

Since the start of 2019, Hills 2 Oceans (H2O) has been calling on BMC members and the wider public to get involved in a litter pick to help remove as much litter and plastic from our hills, mountains and crags as possible so it doesn’t end up in our oceans.

Get involved:

There are a number of worthwhile clean up events already planned in the next few weeks. For example, Surfers Against Sewage Autumn Beach Clean and Summit to Sea cleans are happening between 19 and 27 October. Similarly, the John Muir Trust are hosting a clean-up event of Ben Nevis at the end of the Month and the forthcoming Wilton climbing festival and Gower climbing festival will also be organising litter picks. To make it easier for you to find out about them, we brought all the details together in one place on our events calendar.

BMC Staff out doing their bit for the #hills2oceans campaign

Alternatively, you may want to organise your own clean up event. The BMC can help by providing handheld litter pickers (that can be recycled once they are no longer in use) and re-useable, biodegradable bin bags. Details of how to obtain these can be found below along with information on how to arrange a successful event in our resource pack and a template risk assessment.

DOWNLOAD: The H2O Resource Pack

DOWNLOAD: The H2O Risk Assessment Template

REGISTER YOUR INTEREST IN RUNNING AN EVENT

Did you know:

• Everyday about eight million pieces of plastic pollution find their way into our oceans
• Approximately 6.3bn tonnes of plastic waste is generated in the UK each year and out of this around 9% has been recycled, 12% incinerated & 79% is in landfills or the natural environment  
• Approximately 480bn bottles were sold globally in 2016 (approximately 1 million bottles per minute) and only 7% of these were recycled
• A tissue takes around six weeks to break down, a Cigarette butt takes up to 10 years and an aluminium Can takes about 200 years

Share your rubbish stories:

Our H2O Facebook page is full of interesting stories and is a great record of the amount of waste we are removing from our mountains, crags and hills. From nappies, banana skins, bottles and wet wipes to pants, socks and a ghetto blaster – we’ve been removing all sorts.  We would love to hear from anyone that is about to undertake a litter pick. In particular, where you go, how much rubbish you remove and if you find anything of interest. You can do this by sharing your stories with us on our dedicated Facebook Group.

JOIN: The H2O Facebook Group

BMC Midlands area volunteers at the summit of The Wrekin after a #Hills2Oceans litterpick

The BMC pledge:

The office will be doing its own litter pick in the Peak District on Wednesday 14 August and the BMC will also be eliminating all single-use plastic from the office by the end of the year.  Our presence at festivals / events will also be completely plastic free.  

We want to say a big thanks to every BMC member who continues to support us through the Coronavirus crisis.

From weekly Facebook Lives and GB Climbing home training videos, to our access team working to re-open the crags and fight for your mountain access, we couldn’t do it without you.

Did you know that we've just launched a new U27 membership offer for just £1.50 / month? And with full membership from £2.50 / month, it's never been easier to join and support our work: 

https://www.thebmc.co.uk/join-the-bmc-for-1-month-U27-membership

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