More than 2,700 pieces of litter were removed from the mountain
The extent of litter strewn across parts of Snowdon was exposed following a two-day clean-up effort. Over 2,700 pieces of rubbish were collected from the revered mountain, with the haul including an overwhelming count of 1,737 single-use items, including 800 drink containers.
The most frequently found brands were Lucozade, Red Bull, Coca-Cola, and Monster. Among the waste, volunteers also gathered 274 plastic water bottles from this iconic Welsh natural site.
Considering that the location had not been subjected to a litter pick before, some of the trash is speculated to be up to a century old. The clean-up initiative saw the British Mountaineering Council (BMC) join forces with volunteers, supported by Trash Free Trails, to tackle the issue.
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Expert climbers tackled the gullies of Trinity Wall, a noted climbing spot below the summit, while other participants took on the less lofty task of cleaning the Miner’s Path. The most common find were sweet wrappers, totalling about 300, but the peculiar finds did not stop there – 25 rucksack covers and even a “misplaced” Santa hat were amongst the items retrieved.
Tom Carrick, the BMC’s Access and Conservation Officer for Wales said: “I still believe this is only the start of this work. We’ll look at what we can do differently in the future – and also how we can change our behaviours and attitudes about what we take into the mountains.”, reports North Wales Live.
“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.”
Last month’s litter pick focused on the Trinity Gullies on Clogwyn Y Garnedd, notorious for trapping “waterfalls” of rubbish in these hard-to-reach spots above Llyn Glaslyn. The site had never been litter-picked before due to the near-vertical 300-metre gullies being too treacherous.
It is believed that many of the items were blown into the gullies from the summit. The BMC suggests that cutting out plastic drink bottles could be one of the “simplest” methods to clean up the mountain.
Trash Free Trails, environmental campaigners, highlight the need for a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), which is already popular in European countries. DRS involves a deposit on plastic bottles and aluminium cans that can be refunded at stores or through “reverse vending machines”.
The UK Government’s plan to implement a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) by 2025 has faced a setback, with new timelines pushing the date back to October 2027, allowing more preparation time for involved industries. National charity Keep Britain Tidy estimates this postponement will result in an additional 25bn bottles and cans being littered.
Westminster is also considering the removal of glass from the scheme due to concerns it poses issues for the drinks industry—a move not supported by Wales.
Voicing concerns over the environmental impact, Alec Young from Eryri National Park highlighted the prevalent microplastics issue, saying: “Microplastics have been found in every soil sample monitored on the most popular paths up Yr Wyddfa. We see DRS playing a pivotal role in reducing litter on the mountain and preventing harmful fragmented plastics from entering, and ruining, this fragile environment.”
Dom Ferris, head of Trash Free Trails, emphasised the urgency of introducing a DRS to protect natural areas like Yr Wyddfa. Ferris stated: “Our research has shown that a fifth of interactions an animal has with an item of single-use pollution will end in death – our volunteers are increasingly finding examples of this occurring when an animal gets trapped inside a bottle or can.”
He questioned the delay further by asking, “We know from European case studies that a DRS can eradicate a whole category of litter from our trails overnight; why are we allowing beloved hiking spots such as Snowdon to be the alternative to a reverse vending machine? “.
The joint effort also involved Plantlife, Eryri National Park, Cymdeithas Eryri, RAW Adventures, the Baron Hill Estate and Snowdon Mountain Railway.
