These guys travel on foot to pick up the trash they find in the wild.

Seth Orme and Paul Twedt are two friends who, in 2016, decided to make a trip very different from any you have ever seen. Basically, they collected rubbish from all the places they visited over a 100-mile stretch from Mexico to Canada for the purpose of dumping each type of rubble into its appropriate destination.

In plastic bags, the two gathered it all: bottles, cigarette butts, soda cans and even the most unusual items, such as an old mattress - detail: all this walking.

Not from today

The two Americans are already used to walking long walks, and the project of picking up trash while hiking isn't exactly new - they had already done it in 2015, with another friend, on a trip that ended with the three of them carrying. half a ton of trash after 15 days of travel - in addition to collection, whenever they can reuse some of the materials they find.

The mission that took place at the end of 2016 was longer and the one that eventually made their ant work known all over the world: for five months they traveled from the Mexican border to British Columbia, Canada.

Orme has always had this more adventurous side and, besides working as a tour guide, was also a kayak instructor. Outdoor living has been his top priority since he was 19, when he traveled more than a thousand kilometers of kayaking along the Mississippi River.

Passion and philosophy of life

“When you work outdoors, you get to the point where you are sleeping more outside than inside, and the outdoors becomes your home. And, as with any home, I wanted to keep it clean, ”he explained as he talked about the idea of ​​picking up trash from the places he visits.

He also said in a statement published in The Independent that his goal was to set an example for others by sharing this habit and perhaps inspiring more people to pick up the trash that is on the floor and dispose of it correctly.

The plan for 2018 is to make this kind of trip to other countries, this time by bicycle and with the sponsorship of companies that produce clothing and organic food. First, however, the two will make another trek across the US, over 4, 000 km.

Experiences

“We just do it because we love the outdoors. We had no return. Sometimes people get confused - they wonder why we're getting more weight when we supposedly shouldn't get more weight when traveling a long distance, ”said Orme.

He also said that the two end up talking to many people who are interested in the project - the chat usually ends with them getting someone's house to bathe, have dinner and even spend the night.

If you're wondering if all this effort is worth it, Orme said he even came back to some of the areas he cleaned with his friend and noted that these places were still without trash - he believes that individuals tend not to throw rubble in clean places. : “If you go to someone's house and it's really clean, you think something like 'I'm not going to throw trash on the floor'. I hope people will start to see the outdoors less as a convenience and more as a community that we respect and value, ”he says. What do you think about their project?