The guide solving Mt Rinjani's trash problem

Mount Rinjani is one of Indonesia's most spectacular hikes. But as with many mountains getting more crowded, it has also struggled with a rubbish problem.

Waste left behind by hiking groups has accumulated around the mountain over the years, and unlike rubbish in a city, there isn't a truck coming around to collect it. Whatever comes back down has to be physically packed up and carried off the mountain by someone.

Rudy decided his team wouldn't only take responsibility for their own waste. When they come across rubbish left behind by other trekking groups, they pick that up too, which means his porters can end up adding someone else's bottles, wrappers and rubbish to the food, tents and equipment they're already carrying down the mountain.

It's a small decision. But Rudy's story is really about what can happen when someone keeps making small decisions like that, over and over again.

Rudy started out as a porter

Rudy began his life on Rinjani as a porter, carrying tents, food, cooking equipment and everything else hikers needed on the mountain. Porters do much of the work travellers barely see, from transporting supplies to setting up camp and making sure everything a group needs reaches the next stop.

Rudy was so good at his work that he eventually became a guide and later built his own trekking team. As the person in charge, he became incredibly particular about how a Rinjani trek should be run. It wasn't enough to get people to the summit. He cared about whether guests were comfortable, what they ate, how his team worked and what condition the mountain was left in after everyone went home.

The rubbish was part of that.

Rinjani's trash problem was much bigger than anything one guide could solve, but Rudy could control what his own team did. So they carried all their rubbish back down and, when they found waste other groups had left behind, carried that down too.

There wasn't a big conservation programme behind it. Rudy just thought that if you worked on the mountain, you should look after it.

Then the guides he trained started their own teams

Over the years, many guides learnt their trade working under Rudy before eventually leaving to start trekking companies of their own. And they didn't only take their knowledge of the trails with them.

Many of the responsible guiding companies on Rinjani today were started by people who trained under Rudy, and the practices he had insisted on (including taking responsibility for rubbish) spread with them. One former member of his team even incorporated tree planting into his own trips.

This is the part of Rudy's story we really love.

We often think changing something as big as a mountain's rubbish problem needs a huge campaign, an NGO or some grand plan. Rudy didn't have any of those things. He started with the part he could control: his own team, and the way they behaved on every trek.

Then other people worked beside him long enough for those standards to become their standards too.

“We've never had such amazing meals on a hike before”

That same care shows up in things that have nothing to do with conservation.

After a long day hiking Rinjani, most trekkers would probably be grateful for almost anything hot. Rudy still cares about how the food his team serves looks on the plate.

His team became known for putting unusually good meals together on the mountain and taking the time to present them properly. If someone has underpacked and Rudy has spare gear they can use, he'll lend it without charging them. And if someone wants a beer overlooking the crater, he's even been willing to carry one up.

Rinjani is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I just want our customers to be well-fed, safe, happy, and comfortable so they can fully focus on enjoying their hike.

The food, the spare equipment and the rubbish might seem unrelated, but they all come from the same place. Rudy notices the details and, if something could be done better, he does it.

He spent years as a porter responsible for many of the things happening behind the scenes. Becoming the boss didn't make him stop noticing them.

Small habits can spread a long way

There's an uncomfortable contradiction at Rinjani. Tourism gives local guides and porters work, but every trekking group also brings more food, packaging and equipment onto the mountain. If operators don't take responsibility for what comes back down, the people coming to enjoy Rinjani can slowly make it worse.

Rudy's answer has always been practical. Carry your own rubbish down. Pick up other people's when you can. Look after your guests properly. Teach the people working beside you that caring for the mountain is simply part of being a good guide.

None of those actions sounds enormous on its own.

But Rudy has spent most of his working life walking up and down Rinjani, first as a porter, then a guide and eventually as the person training the next generation. The people he trained went on to build teams of their own, and many of those responsible guiding companies are now passing the same habits on again.

So Rudy's impact isn't one giant conservation project you can point to. It's in all those small decisions being repeated by people far beyond his own team. Pick up the extra bottle. Carry the rubbish down. Feed people well. Leave the mountain better than you found it. Often, change starts that small.

Hike Mount Rinjani with Rudy's team

Who you trek with on Rinjani really matters.

You're spending several demanding days on the mountain, so of course we care about experienced guides, good food and being looked after properly. But we also care about what your trekking operator leaves behind after you've gone home.

That's why we'd choose Rudy's team.

They've spent years treating responsible trekking as simply part of the job, including clearing rubbish that isn't even theirs. By trekking with them, you're supporting local guides and porters whose livelihoods depend on Rinjani, while backing the kind of standards we'd love to see become normal across the mountain.

Book your Seek Sophie Rinjani hike with Rudy here.