Banana skins top offender in Nevis clean up

During the first litter pick of the year, the most common item found on Ben Nevis was the humble banana skin. Conservationists have previously estimated that there are over 1000 banana skins on the summit of Ben Bevis. Volunteers filled bags with these black shrivelled objects, which can often take well over 2 years to break down, as well as plastic bottles, food wrappers, and discarded clothing. Despite there still being 4 foot of snow on the summit, eight volunteers from the John Muir Trust (JMT) took part in the clean up on 30 May.

The volunteers managed to collect six bags of rubbish from the summit, including from the summit shelter, and a further five on the way down despite the mixed weather. The JMT will undertake a number of work parties on the Ben throughout the year, but the organisation is keen to educate walkers that banana skins and apple cores are not natural to the environment on the mountain and are regarded as litter. It is an offence to drop litter in Scotland. The JMT also hopes that publicising the litter picks will encourage walkers and climbers not to leave behind any litter including human waste which is also a problem at the summit area. Previous such clean ups have uncovered a piano and a wheelchair both thought to have been carried to the top as part of stunts and then left there.