The ongoing pandemic and subsequent lockdowns have meant that gyms and fitness centres were closed for months at a time over the past year. This resulted in many Hong Kongers turning to outdoor activities like hiking and running for their workout fix. The city boasts an impressive 75% of green mountains, country parks and hillside, including hundreds of kilometers of hiking trails.

Unfortunately, hikers have left the trails filled with tonnes of trash including face masks, plastic bottles, and food takeaway containers.

To help rid the trails of this increasing pollution and waste, Adventure Clean up Challenge (ACUC), known for their extreme adventure marine beach cleanups, has launched the Leave no Trace concept and along with Trailwatch, a Hong Kong-based mobile app that encourages nature conservation through hiking in the city’s country parks, is set to host a competition that will bring together hikers, trail runners, and other outdoor aficionados to walk along these paths and clean up tonnes of trash