The Reason I Litter Pick on My Wild Camps

If you’ve seen my content, you’ve probably noticed that I nearly always do a bit of litter picking on my wild camps.

This is just a short piece explaining a little of the background behind why I do it.

Full bag of litter collected during a wild camping litter pick with a Scarpa boot for size comparison. — *A full bag of rubbish collected during a litter pick, with my Scarpa boot included to show the scale of what was removed.*

I’m not the first person to litter pick and, unfortunately, I won’t be the last. There will always be people who litter. But I’m not here to argue the rights and wrongs of it or complain about it online.

I’ve been doing this for many years, and for me it’s about more than just picking up rubbish. It feels like a way of saying thanks. The outdoors gives me so much in the way of quiet, exercise, adventure, places to think and places to escape to. Litter picking feels like a small way of giving something back to places that give so much to me.

And unfortunately, it’s also become necessary. If people who care about these places stopped picking litter up completely, many areas would become far worse than they already are.

DD Hammock strung between two trees in a forest with first light of dawn visible through the canopy — *The first light of dawn filters through the forest*

What started me litter picking was watching a video on YouTube from Steve Wallis. In one of his camping videos, he quietly picked up the litter around his camp spot and took it away with him when he left.

There was no big speech about it. No dramatic music. It was just a simple gesture, and I remember thinking that it was a really good idea.

Full bag of litter collected in the New Forest held up against a heathland landscape. — *A bag of litter collected from the roadside in the New Forest, with heathland and woodland visible in the background.*

It was also something I realised I could do myself. I camp quite often, and I knew it would only ever make a small difference, but it still felt worth doing and felt like a way of giving back to the places that give so much to me.

From that point on, I started carrying a few bags and some gloves with me and picking up what I could along the way.

The litter picking is now just part of my outdoor routine, in the same way photography, walking and camping are. My litter picking playlist can be found on YouTube with the hashtag #oslitterpick.

I simply document the problem and my small attempt at helping in the hope that it might encourage a little more awareness or even inspire somebody else to do the same.

Pile of cans and plastic bottles collected from the countryside, disposed at the base of a tree during a wild camping litter pick — Collected cans and bottles from the countryside, part of a #oslitterpick effort during a wild camp.

A lot of the way I camp is to be quiet, low impact and respectful to the places I spend time in. That’s something I wrote more about in The Way I Wild Camp – Quiet, Stealth and Low Impact.

You’ll also notice litter picking appears throughout many of my camps because it has become part of nearly every trip of mine.