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Litter in the mountains

Tak It Hame is the campaign that says what it means: encouraging the mountaineering community, and others, to remove litter and plastic from our hills and crags.

Tak It Hame aims to make a difference. 

We encourage everyone taking to the hills and climbing the crags to do a little on every trip, individually, or as part of a group or club outing.  And to show others too: tell the world that we can all do something.  Many of us already do, but the litter still accumulates. We need more people to do the same.  

The message is: can you bring back more than you took out?

So what can we, every one of us, do?

  • Firstly, we can think about the choices we make when buying, consuming and disposing of food and drink items that we take along with us.  We know the story: reduce packaging, reuse bags and bottles, recycle all that can be recycled.
  • Secondly, we can step up to the ongoing challenge of cleaning up the hillside of lost or discarded items. Not just the items we bring in with us, but the things that lie there, trampled into the soil, blown into bushes or lodged in cracks.

What you can do

  • Pick up litter you find -  take a bag and old gloves with you on every trip, and pick up the things you see – if you don’t pick them up then who will? Please apply common sense to what you pick up and carry with you.*
  • Take a photo and tag us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with your photos - use the hashtag #TakItHame - showing other hillwalkers and climbers that we are part of the solution. Let us know what sort of things you found, where and when you were out and how many of you there were. That can help show the type of litter commonly found and to look out for in our own actions, to avoid adding to them.

*Please don’t pick up dog or human waste, broken glass or needles. 

Get involved

Want your club or group to get involved?  You can either organise your own litter-picks or get involved in ones that are already organised. 

Contact us to get some of our carbon-neutral, reusable and 100% recyclable #TakItHame bags for your litter pick and read below for guidance and how to carry out a risk assessment:

TakItHame bags are free to members of Mountaineering Scotland and affiliated clubs. 

If you're not a member and would like some bags to use for a litter pick, we ask for a donation to cover the cost of the bags and the postage. Find out more here.


Reduce, reduce, recycle

Once you've used your TakItHame bag, give it a quick clean out and put it back in your rucksack to reuse every time you're out on the hills. 

When it comes to the end of it's life, it can be recycled at any large supermarket along with other types of carrier bags.

Join us and support our campaigns

Since our foundation as the Mountaineering Council of Scotland nearly 50 years ago, Mountaineering Scotland has been representing the views and needs of hill walkers, mountaineers, climbers and snowsports tourers in Scotland. We work closely with our members, the media, partner organisations, the government and landowners to make a real difference on the matters that affect us all.

By becoming a member of Mountaineering Scotland, you are supporting this work and adding your voice to that of 14,000 other members by getting involved in our campaigns to protect access rights and encourage sustainable mountain environments.

Join us