KEEN Cleans Up The Peak District

Volunteers scoured the hillsides for rubbish at last weekend's first UK Envirotrek event in the Peak.

Before spending the afternoon enjoying the local hills - that'll be Stanage then...

Successful Envirotrek clean-up events have been taking place on the continent for several years now and the concept landed over here last weekend with the first ever UK Envirotrek taking place in the beautiful Hope valley in the centre of the Peak District.

Work First, Play Later...

Backed by KEEN and Respect The Mountains, the Envirotrek concept is a simple one; volunteers spend the morning collecting waste from the local hills and are then rewarded with a tasty lunch before spending the afternoon taking advantage of outdoors with a mix of activities led by professionals.

The inaugural UK event turned out to be a cracking success with around 50 volunteers collecting 15 bags of miscellaneous waste from the hills around Bamford with finds including the top part of a wheelbarrow, a barbecue and a light switch no less. The finder of the most unusual piece of litter also won a pair of KEEN shoes as a bonus.

Then, after lunch, the volunteers got involved in a mix of walking, biking, climbing and caving in the local hills with the support of groups like  the Peak District Tourist Information Centre, Peak Mountaineering and the Outdoor Shop. Caving came courtesy of Hitch ‘n’ Hike Guides.

1750 Kilos Of Rubbish...

All good stuff and a positive introduction of the Envirotrel concept to the UK. It's the fourth year that the European Envirotrek Initiative has run, with seven events across five different countries this summer encompassing over 1000 hands-on clean up hours by almost 500 volunteers. In total around 1750 kilos of waste has been collected, including scrap metals, car tires and used oil barrels.  

The organisation of the 2013 Envirotrek series is already underway with details set to be released shortly. for more and registration details log on to www.keenfootwear.com/envirotrek or check out www.respectthemountains.com.