Managing your waste on the GR20

The rule

The golden rule: pack it out

The golden rule fits in three words: pack it out. The GR20 crosses a natural park that is both busy and fragile: every piece of litter accumulates, pollutes soil and water, and attracts or disturbs wildlife. Do not count on the refuges to take your rubbish: supplied by mule or helicopter, their logistics are already stretched, and carrying waste back down is costly for them — it is not their job. The rule also covers "biodegradable" waste: a banana skin or an apple core breaks down very slowly at altitude and teaches animals to expect human food. In practice: if you carried it up, you carry it down — to the next point with services.

In practice

Getting organised, pack to drop-off

Most of the work happens before you leave: strip your food of its packaging (boxes, outer wrappers, individual sachets) — the less packaging goes up, the less waste comes down. On the trail, carry a sturdy ziplock bag dedicated to rubbish, always stored in the same pocket of your pack, plus a second one for "wet" waste. Then think in sections: the points connected to the road or the railway — Calenzana, Haut-Asco, Castel di Vergio, Vizzavona, E Capannelle, the Col de Bavella and Conca — have services, and therefore waste handling. That is where, and only where, you can legitimately offload before setting out light again.

Overlooked

The waste nobody thinks about

• Cigarette butts: a filter is plastic waste — it goes back down like everything else.
• Wipes, even "biodegradable" ones: they do not break down in the mountains — into the ziplock.
• Toilet paper: bury it deep, well away from water — or carry it out.
• Food scraps and fruit peel: they attract animals; you are not "giving back" to nature.
• Plasters, dressings, energy-bar wrappers: pocket-sized micro-litter counts too.