A small army of volunteers from Sierra Nevada Limpia carried out a clean-up operation in the Hoya de la Mora area of the said mountain range.

The team of around twenty managed to collect 400 kilos of litter between eight in the morning and two in the afternoon. The Chairman of the association, Enrique Montero, explained how they had combed the area between Hoya de la Mora and the Albergue Universitario.

Between them, they filled 20 sacks as well as picking up several metal objects. One of the things they picked up was a toilet bowl belonging to a camper van that somebody had simply jettisoned in the middle of this national park reserve.

More worrying was the amount of hand wipes that had been discarded.

The reason that there were so many is because there are seven kiosks up there that offer food and drinks schnellimbiss style, none of which have toilets for clients….

«People relieve themselves in the pinewood area,” explained one of the volunteers, so you can image what awaited the clean-up volunteers.

Chairman Enrique Montero, said, “there are lots of plastic cups and plates and above all hand wipes – there are thousands of them.”

The recent meteor shower (The Perseids) drew thousands of people up to the Sierra Nevada, leaving behind them kilos upon kilos of rubbish, including quilts and blankets. This phenomenon occurs between the 17th of July and the 24th of August with the most intense night being the 12th of August.

(News: Sierra Nevada, Granada, Andalucia)