Heroes hike
You’ll need
- Bin bags
- Litter pickers
- Gloves
- Maps or route cards (optional)
Take action to look after the natural world.
Before you begin
- Find a local area for your litter pick and check for any hazards (like sharp objects, broken glass, or dog poo). Make sure the area is accessible for everyone in your group.
- Arrange how you’ll dispose of the litter you collect. Depending on where you live, this could be public bins, local council facilities, or waste disposal centres.
- Each group will need an adult to do this activity with them – if you don’t have enough volunteers, you could ask some parents to help.
Litter pick
- Everyone should talk about why littering is bad for the planet.
- Everyone should split into small groups. An adult should join each group.
- The person leading the activity should make sure that everyone understands that they’ll need to be careful of certain objects they might find, such as glass, sharp metal, or needles. They should explain the plan for dealing with these sorts of items safely.
- The person leading the activity should explain the area everyone will be using and when and where groups should meet after the hike.
- Everyone should get stuck in to their adventure with a social action edge!
Add in a challenge
- You could challenge everyone to find the oldest piece of litter (you could judge based on best before or use by dates).
- You could challenge everyone to collect items of litter that begin with the first letter of their name (for example, Nadiya could find an old newspaper, while Charlie could find a chocolate bar wrapper).
Make it better
- Once everyone’s returned to the meeting point, they should share what litter they found. How will they dispose of it all effectively?
- Everyone should chat about what might have happened if they hadn’t removed the litter.
- Everyone should decide on some more actions they can take to minimise litter in their local area.
Reflection
This activity was a great way for people to enjoy the outdoors while helping their community. Before the end of the session, you could use the ‘make it better’ debrief to discuss ways people could reduce litter on national and global scales as well.
Safety
All activities must be safely managed. You must complete a thorough risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Always get approval for the activity, and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.
- Visits away from your meeting place
Complete a thorough risk assessment and include hazards, such as roads, woodland, plants, animals, and bodies of water (for example, rivers, ponds, lakes, and seas). You’ll probably need more adult helpers than usual. Your risk assessment should include how many adults you need. The young people to adult ratios are a minimum requirement. When you do your risk assessment, you might decide that you need more adults than the ratio specifies. Think about extra equipment that you may need to take with you, such as high visibility clothing, a first aid kit, water, and waterproofs. Throughout the activity, watch out for changes in the weather and do regular headcounts.
- Hiking and walking
Follow the guidance for activities in Terrain Zero, or the guidance for each the adventurous activity.
- Outdoor activities
You must have permission to use the location. Always check the weather forecast, and inform parents and carers of any change in venue.
- Rubbish and recycling
All items should be clean and suitable for this activity.
Make it accessible
All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.
Could you invent a new way of reducing litter? What about a plastic sucking vacuum in the ocean or alternative packaging for food?