What we do

The Indiahikes Green Trails Project addresses these problems at the roots. There are two objectives of the project.

• To stop adding to the mountain waste. All Indiahikes trekkers bring back every bit of litter that they take on the trek – be it chocolate wrappers, newspapers, tissue papers, mineral water bottles, sanitary napkins, anything. Trekkers are encouraged to pick up others’ litter as well; to undo damage of littering over the years. Trekkers are given eco bags to aid them in the task.Treks are organized such that minimum non-biodegradable items are taken by the kitchen team. All tins, cans, chocolates and biscuits have been eliminated from the menu. Wholesome and tasty natural foods have replaced them. All kitchen wastes are brought down and dispatched to nearest compacting units.

• To work with the mountain community. The Green Trails project forms close associations with village panchayats, compacting units, forest departments to devise systems and processes to manage trekking wastes. This includes human waste.

The greater goal of the Green Trails project is to leave the mountains in a better condition. It’s about undoing damage that has already been done.

As trekkers, here are some best practices we encourage you to adopt. This will greatly reduce the burden on villages.

The non bio degradable garbage generated by each trek batch is segregated and taken down to the nearest big towns like Dehradun or Srinagar where some city administration exists to handle plastic wastes.

At Indiahikes, we are constantly researching, implementing and refining ideas that can be implemented on every trek. All our trekkers take a zero pollution pledge. Apart from this, many trekkers go beyond the pledge and volunteer to undo previous damage – irrespective of who caused it – by signing up to be Green Getters.