Volunteers who refuse to look away

Female participant

Wang is not alone in this endeavor. Across the country, similar volunteer efforts are quietly gaining momentum. They come from different walks of life, but share the same zeal. They cannot bear to see the mountains being turned into dumping grounds.

Meet Chen Chen from Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, a 36-year-old avid hiker, cyclist and marathon runner. When she first joined a mountain cleanup event in 2018, it opened her eyes to a community of volunteers quietly dedicating themselves to protecting the environment. Chen has been working with them ever since. By day, Chen runs a rice noodle shop with her mother. But whenever she has time, she heads to the mountains for hiking and cleaning up trash.

She always carries a woven sack while hiking. Last year, she started stringing bottles together with a rope, sometimes collecting nearly 200 pieces. When she runs, the bottles clatter behind her. "It was the most beautiful sound in the mountains," she said. Chen's equipment is simple: just a face covering and gloves. "They protect me from branches and the sun. That's all I need," she said.

Sometimes she takes a train, walks to the foot of the mountain carrying her tent, and camps overnight in the wild. "Hotels are too expensive, so I just sleep in the mountains."

The trails Chen takes are usually more than 10 kilometers long. Each trip takes a full day. The paths are steep and slippery, and the trash can be heavy. Some people throw their garbage far off the trails, so she has to climb down to pick it up.

"My legs are bruised from the falls," she said. "What I don't understand is that people carry heavy food all the way up the mountain. After they have eaten, the packaging is light. Why can't they just bring it down?"

Chen sorts the waste on the spot. Non-biodegradable items such as cigarette butts, heat packs, and snack bags are put in trash bins. Bottles and cans are given to people who are willing to recycle them.

For Chen, the mountains have given her more than she expected. "When I'm up there picking up trash, I don't think about anything. There's only the trash, my breathing, and the scenery. I forget everything else bad. Sometimes I might even see a deer in the mountains. That is really healing," she said.