A project by two young women will help hikers to protect the mountain and keep the environment clean. Let’s discover the XChangeBox columns, designed by EcoLogica della Montagna to promote high-altitude eco-trekking and plogging.
Not only the seas are invaded by plastic. Now even the mountains, very fragile ecosystems, are threatened by waste that spoils the uncontaminated nature and endangers its many habitats. What are the possible solutions?
Plogging and eco-trekking
In Northern Europe, they invented plogging. It’s an increasingly popular sport that combines gentle running (jogging) with garbage collection (plocka upp, which in Swedish means “to clean up”).
But how to make plogging and eco-trekking easier and practicable even in the mountains?
Two girls from San Martino di Castrozza thought about it. After a trip to Norway, they put in place a simple but effective solution to clean up the Dolomites and thus take care of their territory.
They are Sara Zaetta and Irene Fontana, the founders of EcoLogica Della Montagna. Born in 2019, within the Association Gruppo Giovani San Martino di Castrozza, it’s a project that aims to help tourists and inhabitants to put into practice a sustainable lifestyle. EcoLogica believes that it is precisely from small actions that we can contribute the most.
How XChange Box works
It has happened to all hikers, even the careful ones who prefer water bottles to plastic bottles, and always carry a bag to store waste without abandoning it along the way. It is unfortunately easy to find litter, cans, and face masks thrown on the ground by other tourists. In San Martino di Castrozza there is a simple solution: you will find the XChange Box columns. Currently, there are three, located in strategic points in the surroundings and the center of San Martino di Castrozza. You will only have to store the waste you find along the path until you reach a column. It will be the young people of EcoLogica Della Montagna project who will sort them out correctly.
Plogging and eco-trekking have arrived in the Dolomites: now you can make a difference even at high altitudes!