Trails clean-up and safer streets push for Earth Day in Inverness
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Volunteers and campaigners are hoping for a clean sweep for Earth Day as they look to improve the environment in and around Inverness.
Riders, runners and roamers are being asked to get involved with a litter-picking event this Saturday to mark the global day which highlights the importance of the environment.
Meanwhile, a group advocating safer streets is getting together on the same day to show support for cycling and wheeling in the city.
Trash Free Trails, a non-profit group that aims to keep mountain bike trails and other outdoor spaces free of litter, has teamed up with parkrun in Inverness to reduce plastic waste in the area.
Local volunteer Jane Chisholm said the trail-cleaning event will take place at Torvean park after parkrun on Saturday. Parkrun takes place every week at 9.30am on Saturdays, and involves a 5k walk or run for people of all ages and abilities.
The community trail clean is calling for volunteers to take part in the event and to help the mission of reducing plastic pollution on our trails and wild spaces by 75 per cent before 2025.
The event is fun, friendly and inclusive. No special equipment is required and individuals of all ages and from all backgrounds are welcome to meet at the park at 10.30am. People are asked to bring gloves and, if they have them, litter pickers.
The event is part of the Earth Day Spring Clean campaign – a series of community-led cleans across the UK. Every piece of single-use pollution collected will be logged, with all findings contributing towards the groundbreaking State of Our Trails Report – an academic research project conducted in collaboration with Bangor University.
Later the same day, Kidical Mass Inverness will return to the city’s streets to support the National Action Day hosted by Safe Streets Now, which campaigns to minimise road danger through improved driver and vehicle regulation in conjunction with people-centred design of public spaces.
The family-friendly ride, supported by marshals, on Saturday will leave Bellfield Park at 1.30pm. Participants go by road from Bellfield Park to Bught Park, where there are fun activities and snacks.
Everyone is welcome to the event – all ages and abilities, bikes, trikes, recumbent, tandem, scooters and wheelchairs. Children are asked to please bring a parent or guardian on the ride too!
Emily Williams, Inverness Bicycle Mayor, said: “We need to make our city a safe place for people of all ages to be able to travel, whether as pedestrians or on a bike.
“Many people can’t make their journeys by car – either they can’t afford one, or for whatever reason they can’t drive – and they too have a right to get safely and conveniently around Inverness.
“I’m delighted that we’re going to be taking part in the national action calling for safer streets."
