Stafanie Waser first encountered the Trash Hero movement while in Thailand, where she participated in various cleanups. An avid hiker, Stefanie began to collect trash whenever she was hiking, from the Pacific Crest Trail in the US to her most recent effort conquering The Israeli National Trail – rated as among the 10 most beautiful long-distance hike in the world extending from the Lebanese border to the North all the way to the Southern tip of Israel along the Red Sea. During her 800 kilometer trek, Stefanie encountered the beauty and quiet of this extensive and expansive route through the country, which attracts thousands of hikers and pilgrims annually, and she shared her story with us.
Stefanie is an inspiration of how we can all practice sustainable and restorative activities in our everyday activities – whether those activities include a quick walk across a parking lot to the store or tackling some of the most beautiful scenery on Earth.
/// BILD 1
My adventure began in Tel Aviv.
Stefanie Waser hiked 800km along The Israel National Trail, collecting 36 bags of trash.
/// BILD 2-4
I was completely taken aback by the amount of trash I encountered. The closer you got to the city area, the more trash you saw. It quickly became evident to me that I would not be able to gather all the trash on my Trash Walk. I decided to limit myself to one trash bag per day.
Stefanie unfortunately realised she would be unable to collect everything she encountered, so limited herself to filling one bag per day.
/// BILD 5
Various items were simply too heavy or bulky to pack into a trash bag, and had to be left behind unfortunately.
/// BILD 6-7
On Mount Tabor, one of the most famous pre-Christian sites of worship of ancient times, I decided to go up against the plastic bottles. A total of 34 PET-bottles wandered into my trash bag.
Mount Tabor is an important site to both Jewish and Christian texts. In spite of efforts by the country to
/// BILD 8-12
Lake Genezareth at 212m below sea level is the lowest-lying freshwater lake of the world and obviously a very popular picnic spot on the trail. Plastic plates and cutlery, which are distributed with any purchase for free, is what I filled up my trash bag with there.
Millions of tones of single-use plastic items are thrown away every year. Even if heroes like Stefanie pick them up, there is nowhere for them to go. We can remedy this by refusing single-use plastic items like cutlery and cups, and carrying our own, reusable versions.
/// BILD 13-15
From the lowest-lying freshwater lake to the highest mountain within the internationally acknowledged border, Mount Meron stands at 1208m elevation: The trash is the same.
/// BILD 16
Necessity is the mother of invention. I made my trash-collecting life easier thanks to a barbecue tong.
/// BILD 17
The North accomplished! 200km and 14 trash bags later I reached the small settlement Kibbutz Dan. In the south, in the desert I was met by far less trash. That was just as well, as I was quite weighed down already by the water bottles I was carrying.
Stefanie combines her passions: hiking and preserving the world’s natural beauty.
/// BILD 18-20
After more than 800 intense kilometers and 36 filled trash bags I completed my journey. Looking back now on my Trash Walk in scenic Israel I can say that I hope that in the interest of this beautiful part of the world, trash can be avoided as much as possible going forward.
“This trail was not intended to be just an enrichment to me alone, but should also be preserved for future hikers.”- Stefanie Waser
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