South Korea’s hikers make ‘junk art’ from trash
This is South Korea’s ‘Clean Hikers’
and they’re making ‘junk art’ to encourage others not to litter.
They’ve been shocked by the amount of trash accumulating in the mountains
as social distancing measures drive more people from the cities onto the hiking trails.
30-year-old Kim Kang-eun is the founder of Clean Hikers.
"We make the junk art because it's more compelling and well received rather than just saying let's not litter. We can make an interesting image, which can attract people's interest, and explain the trash is all from the mountains. That's why we do this junk art project."
Kim started the campaign in 2018 after she found a rubbish heap on Mount Jiri, the country's largest national park.
Since then Kim and her team have gathered more than 1,800 pounds of abandoned waste.
"We made an image of an animal which is suffering from trash and the presence human. So this shows a crying cat who was attacked by rubbish."
Face masks, plastic bottles, food containers wet wipes or even nappies
all make up the art which are assembled at the top of the mountain.
Kim said more people have shown their interest in nature and the environment this year.
The number of visitors to three major national parks close to South Korea's big cities has risen more than 20 percent in October compared to last year, according to the Korea National Park Service.
And with it Kim says her campaign has also attracted more attention.
"Many people have shown their interest about our activity on social media. As many as 100 people have joined at once. It became a really popular and meaningful activity."
"We cannot clean up all of the whole mountains. The more important thing is keep doing it, tell people about it, and make more people join in. This is much more crucial."
