NEWS & NOTES FROM THE FIELD 

Words by Heather Friendship-Kay Photos by Pete Scullion. I sat in the cafe, looking out at the sun glinting through the trees, the birds on the feeders, before turning back to Dom. “So we want to invoice each brand for the number of items of their packaging we have removed…” my mind boggled, “How many volunteer hours can be attributed to that brand - what the cost to nature is - and how much it has cost Trash Free Trails? Would the current pEPR legislation allow for that?” Th

Image by Leigh Rose. Artwork by Helen Wilson. Words by Rach Coleman. Today we release our 2025 State of Our Trails Report - a cornerstone of our year where we collate all of the incredible data our volunteers have collected into a single document, hoping to inspire change from the grassroots all the way to government. This year we've focused in on Packaging Extended Producer Responsibility - a new scheme that sees the costs of recycling packaging fall to those who produce it

Image by Hollie Harmsworth The phrase 'it takes a village' has taken on new meaning for us in the last six years. Since 2019 our village has grown to a core team of 8, an ambassador team of almost 50, and a partnership ecosystem representing the very best the outdoor industry has to offer. And it's true what they say - many hands do make light work. Clichés aside - it's with pride today we open our metaphorical doors a little wider, inviting new and existing partners to celeb

Image by Rach Coleman. Words by Rach Coleman. Healthy forests have expansive and interwoven root systems. We know this now more than ever. Once this was something of an embodied understanding, a knowing without words - but now we have created or found new and old words to describe it. The Wood Wide Web, mycorrhizal fungi networks. Healthy forests are made up of different organisms working together, supporting one another, creating and forming connections. Trash Free Trails ha

Image by Pete Scullion. Words by Rach Coleman and Dom Ferris. After some serious nail biting over the last few days, we’re thrilled to share that the Regulations for England and Northern Ireland’s deposit return scheme (DRS) have made it through UK parliament, and will come into force on Monday 27th January. This is a policy over a decade in the making, but one our trails desperately need. Our most recent State of Our Trails Report identified that 33% of the single-use pollut