Environmental Education can help tackles issues such as littering. Perhaps what we need is the Department For Education and MTB Skills?
We’ve noticed a recent flurry of pleas from trail groups struggling to keep their spots open. On top of all the usual winter and storm maintenance, issues like motorbikes on BMX tracks and jump spots, and litter at popular trail spots threaten to overwhelm volunteers. If places can’t be kept clean and safe, riders risk losing access. School holidays can often see a spike in problems – although it’s not just kids that are the cause. Education about the impact that irresponsible trail use can have is one way of helping address the issue. Having an understanding of and respect for your environment can help change the way you interact with it.
Trash Free Trails aims to connect people with their environment, and first introduced its Trash Mob Academy education resources a few years ago, with this heartwarming video certainly catching people’s attention.
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The Trash Free Trails Education programme is being relaunched today. Their resources are free for anyone to use, meaning any school, parent or youth group could access them and deploy them. But what Trash Free Trails would really like to see is outdoor access and environmental education to be integrated into school curriculums, as standard.
If you’re interested in helping the kids in your life get some environmental education, head to the Trash Free Trails website or read on for the full press release.
Trash Free Trails’ (TFT) research identifies the ultimate ‘cure’ for littering behaviour is environmental education for young people, as they relaunch their Education programme.
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KEY STATS
- Trash Free Trails’ survey shows 81% of individuals who undertake positive environmental action, like trail cleaning, reap an increased connection to nature.
- 8 in 10 children want to spend more time in nature (National Trust, 2024).
- Over ⅓ of the country lives more than a 15 minute walk from a green or blue space (DEFRA, 2023).
- Over 300 young people experienced the positive impacts of trail cleaning on their wellbeing, self esteem and confidence through Trash Free Trails’ Education programme.
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With the greatest barrier to accessing nature being the distance and cost of reaching it, (National Trust, 2024) more and more young people are growing up without learning how to responsibly use the outdoors. Despite calls for the Countryside Code to be taught in schools, (TES, 2020) a generation is growing up without learning vital outdoor skills, such as navigating using traditional methods, walking in unfamiliar countryside, and basic first aid.
Not-for-profit Trash Free Trails (TFT) are heralding a turning tide however, led by charities and ENGOs who are addressing the gap on environmental education. As they relaunch their own Education programme, TFT is calling for more resources to support similar initiatives, helping schools integrate them into their curriculums.
TFT’s education programme has already been delivered to almost 300 young people across the UK. This year TFT are working with Bike Park Wales and Comrie Croft to deliver a bespoke mountain biking programme, as well as visiting schools around the country to deliver the sessions in playgrounds.
The programme combines outdoor physical activity such as mountain biking, running or hiking alongside lessons on environmental stewardship, leaving young people with practical skills that enable them to access the outdoors responsibly and with confidence.
Trash Free Trails’ data suggests 81% of participants experience an increased sense of connection to nature after undertaking a trail clean. They hope the Education programme will see young people reap the wellbeing benefits of experiencing nature connection, and equip them with skills on how to be a responsible user of outdoor spaces, ensuring they take their rubbish home and remove any they find.
‘Whether it’s by bike or foot, we want every young person to reap the rewards of time outside, and recognise doing their bit to protect those places is a core part of that experience,’ says Associate Director Richard Breeden. ‘Our education programme is one of many that creates a positive feedback loop – by encouraging environmental stewardship, we can expect less littering behaviour from participants. Less littering means less trash on our trails – it’s as simple as that.’
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Speaking to experiencing TFT Education’s programme first hand, Emily Greaves, Head Guide at Comrie Croft said ‘Trash Free Trails has created something truly special – an engaging, hands-on programme that not only teaches young people about environmental stewardship but connects them to their local trails in a meaningful way. Seeing participants develop a sense of pride and responsibility for the places they visit has been fantastic.’
TFT’s education programme is freely available for parents, carers and educational professionals to bring to the young people they live and work with.
‘If we want to end littering behaviour,’ continues Richard Breeden, ‘we have to go to where young people are and learn from them what their trails mean in their lives. Organisations like ours have already created the programmes to do this – but with more centralised support this could be a regular experience for every child. Whether they’re living in a national park, or on the fringes of a major city, they all deserve to learn the skills and confidence to get out there and make a difference with their own two hands.’
Replies (7)
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These trash free trails articles are fine but it’s about more than not dropping litter. Its about being sensitive about where you ride and walk.
In our local park MCC and BC managed to trash a piece of ancient woodland to build 100 meters of rather tame singletrack. They were dicks so how can you expect teenagers to be any more aware?
It’s about keeping your furry flea bag under control, not charging about disturbing ground nesting birds and shitting all over the place.
People need to aquire some respect for the country side there are few nice bits left.
A while ago the council asked us not to use a particular track in the woods for fear of disturbing the otters. The stream in which the otters were meant to exist was often heavily polluted by run-off so seemed an unlikely otter hang-out, but there you go. we are only cyclists not otter experts and it was only a connecting track to get to a better trail. Around Covid time the council decided to widen the otter track and make it more accessible by pouring concrete (or cement?) and chippings along it. Several trees have now fallen because their bases were undercut by the track widening. Steps have been cut into the hillside. The track which used to only be used by the occasional person is now constantly used by dog walkers.
So much for the otters.
So, yes, I agree, if our official bodies have no respect for anything then why should anyone else even bother to carry their litter home, pick their dog mess up, have any respect at all?
Litter breeds litter.
It’s more obvious in winter due to less vegetation but have a look around any trail, any roadside verge, any riverbank and litter is *everywhere*. Roadside verges are the worst – fast food wrappers, cans, bottles, coffee cups all chucked from cars plus general debris from cars themselves like bits of hubcap, shredded tyre and broken light cluster.
I was at Sherwood Pines the other week and the flytipping out the back of the place was off the charts. Faced with seeing that, a couple of kids aren’t going to care about taking their crisp packet back. Clearly a “known" spot where pick up trucks and small vans have been going for months before it was finally blocked off with big rocks and a gate but the litter is still there.
When Snake Pass was properly closed a few years ago for the first of the big landslides, the local cycle club went up and down it litter picking. They collected dozens of industrial size bin bags full and there was so much of it they didn’t even get to do all the road.
Littering is less of an issue round here than people absolutely trashing the area by putting massive trench lines everywhere.
Yes I am sure it will eventually vanish once the bracken grows up, but currently a lot of runs on heavy bikes are wrecking stuff.
It was good to see people lagging their shite at Greno the weekend, even saw couple of young peeps calling out their peers for leaving Monster cans on the deck.
I often muse that littering which is a problem being the countryside is just a symptom of the culture of entitlement we seem to have developed.
People just don’t give a ****.
“Official bodies" are all working on bare bones budgets, scraped together from piecemeal funding pots and used last minute. Cheapest bidder, lowest cost materials, least time possible and the work only commissioned when it absolutely has to be (which is usually a lot later than it *needs* to be).
Done properly, you could have had a sympathetic path repair done to a high standard using locally appropriate material. Done on the cheap, you get Cowboy Builders Inc turning up with some knock-off cement, tipping it onto the trail and waiting until it rains.
I expect that the “Paws on paths" signs will go up around here pretty soon. Lowland heath supports some scarce ground nesting birds so they ask that people don’t let their dogs run through the undergrowth. There are signs on every single entrance gate but if you stop and ask someone if they’ve seen them (cos Fido is going banzai 20m away)they’ll plead ignorance at best or just get aggro back at you.