Plastiki Rafiki, Students for the Environment Club and Savage Wilderness Safaris came together during the annual International School of Kenya intercultural trip to lead a rubbish collection and awareness drive on Mt. Kenya, sponsoring 20 porters for 5 days for the various mountain trips to help carry previously discarded rubbish off the Mountain for recycling. With two school groups going up the Sirimon Side and one group going up the Chogoria side, they were able to make a significant impact, cleaning up the trails and campsites of this beautiful Mountain. Students, porters and guides collected litter along the main routes and stopovers, including Liki North, Shiptons and the shores of lake Ellis and lake Michelson.
During the 5 day trips, the students were able to bring back over 30 bags of mixed rubbish. Of these, the equivalent of 18 bags were plastics that are being processed into souvenir keychains for everyone involved in the cleanup, and others, to serve as a reminder to protect the Mountain + to carry out everything you bring with you. Having realized the scale of the littering problem in the area, ISK students are hoping that this clean up drive can become part of future Mt. Kenya IC trips.
Looking towards the future we plan to fundraise (through the sale of Plastiki Rafiki products) for bins and eventually recycling facilities in the area and in the short term install signage reminding hikers to carry their rubbish out and not to litter as part of a ‘carry in carry out’ policy which urgently needs to be enforced on the mountain.
