Litter Pickers Unite!

As we have always enjoyed our explorer walks covering all terrains. Whether we’re aimlessly walking through undiscovered trails, metal detector-ing through woods, magnet fishing small rivers, mud-larking rock pools or beach-combing endless beaches one thing we are constantly plagued by is LITTER!

We have discovered to our horror that little space is left that isn’t occupied by someones discarded packaging, so much so a lot of it is even under the ground surface.

Now, we understand that littering happens. We’ve done it ourselves. We’ve had things blown away. We’ve left things in places when we had little means of carrying to an available bin. We’re human. But what we can do easily is clear away the things we find when were in places of beauty to minimize its lasting effects upon the surrounding environment. We aim to find a balance that works for us. A bag or two a month is a better solution than collecting none and complaining about it.

Ring pulls, drinks cans, zips, foil are common finds when using the metal detector. Crisp packets and plastic wrappings can really travel in a good gust of wind, to places that are rarely frequented by crowds of people.

Overall, its disheartening, to see preventable damage to the very earth we depend on. So rather than moan. We done what we always do.

Make a new bag.

The Litter Picking Bag!

We recycled an old childrens backpack and filled with some bare essentials.

Gloves – Rubber gloves in adult sizes & gardening protective gloves in child sizes.

Bags – Not so big that its hard to carry, but bigger than an avereage plastic shopping bag.

Bag Ring – We looked around at things we already have that could be repurposed to recycle and save cost. A large embroidery hoop that annoyingly refuses to stay on the shelf as we walk past was an ideal candidate to use as a bag ring. Works in a very similar way, but is cheaper in many cases. This does make it easier for the bag holder. We only use one bag at a time, which makes it easier for carrying long-distance as they can get heavy once filled (think of donkey!¹) and wastes less bags.

Tongs – A set of kitchen tongs with a rubber piece missing, no longer used with food, is ideal for non-contact litter picking. Basic salad tongs could also work. The beauty of these is they fit easily into the backpack and are easier to carry long-distance than the longer litter picker.

Litter Picker – For the taller pickers or those with limited mobility a litter picker is kinder to the back to save bending down too often. As useful as these are for non-contact litter picking, they can be difficult for younger/less dextrous pickers to master, bulky to carry many at once long distance and can break easily. However, having one to share between family members seems only right if this is a bonus hobby to enjoy alongside others.

Hand Sanitizers – soap foam, water bottle and a cloth or sanitizing gel, it’s best to cater for a hand wash once finished.

We included some Eco-friendly compostable bags that we bought that were awful as rubbish bags because they rip so easily which we were very useful for bagging up animal waste (over the glove) and dirty gloves once we’ve finished.

1. Donkey – the person who ends up carrying “everyones” bags when “everyone” gets tired. ↩︎