The BMC Hills 2 Oceans campaign is back for 2023 with even more opportunities for volunteers to get involved. Help remove as much litter and plastic as possible from our hills, mountains and crags so it doesn’t end up in our oceans!

Plastic waste and litter is a massive issue: 

• Recent studies have found substantial amounts of plastic on some of our most remote mountains, and a study of 13 UK rivers by Greenpeace revealed that they all contained microplastics.
• It is estimated there are now 5.25 trillion pieces of ocean plastic debris, and that the quantity of plastic in the sea will treble by 2025
• 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

This is bad news. The good news is that you can do something to help, from picking up rubbish whenever you go out to joining an organised event, or even planning your own. Don’t forget to share your rubbish stories to raise awareness and encourage everyone to keep our hills and oceans plastic-free. 

BMC H2O Litter Picking Kits #hills2oceans

In 2022 we provided 400 litter pickers, filled 2000 bin bags and held over 50 clean up events with the removal of LOTS of rubbish! The H2O litter picking kits were provided free of charge to BMC members across the country, so if you or your organisation received one, this is your reminder to dig it out and take it on your next trip to the crag or walk in the hills, and help clean up along the way.

If you don’t have a litter picking pack and would like to buy one, you can order a biodegradable litter picker, or a pack including biodegradable litter sacks and limited edition organic cotton Hills 2 Oceans t-shirt from the BMC Shop.

BUY Biodegradable Litter Pickers

BUY Hills 2 Oceans Pack

Get involved with the Youth Hostels Association (YHA) and The Big Help Out

BMC has partnered with the YHA to provide over 50 of our H2O litter picking kits to hostels throughout England and Wales. The kits provide micro-volunteering litter picking opportunities to YHA residents across the country, and the YHA will even responsibly dispose of the litter for you! 

In addition, YHA is hosting a number of volunteering events on Monday 8th May as part of The Big Help Out. The self-led events are free to join and designed to encourage people of all ages to try volunteering and join the work being undertaken to support their local areas.

The Big Help Out is one of the centrepieces of the celebrations planned for the Coronation of His Majesty The King and Her Majesty The Queen Consort. The events are designed to raise awareness and provide opportunities for people to experience volunteering, and make a difference in their communities across the UK.

BMC Litter Picking Kits are available to reserve and collect at participating YHA hostels. Reserve a kit or book a place on one of the organised Big Help Out events via the YHA Volunteer website.

Join An Organised Event

As well as picking up as rubbish when you’re out and about, you might want to join an organised litter pick to target a local area that needs a good clean, and meet like-minded people while you do. These organisations plan litter picks around the country: 

Keep Britain Tidy

Trash Free Trails

Youth Hostels Association

Organise your own Hills 2 Oceans event

If you’d like to organise your own clean up event the BMC can help by providing 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

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

Nominate a Volunteer in the 2024 Awards. 

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