Trick or Trash: CleanTrek’s Halloween Update!

CleanTrek Newsletter - October 30, 2024

Dear Subscriber First Name,

Happy early Halloween, and if you’re new to this newsletter, welcome! Some highlights this month include:

CleanTrek visits the Yosemite Facelift!
Collector updates (all-new capabilities!)
Crowdfunding campaign pushed to next year (targeting February!)
LLC formation, trademark, and patent updates

1. Yosemite Facelift

Every year, the Yosemite Climbing Association and the National Park Services host the Yosemite Facelift to remove litter from Yosemite National Park. This year, 1,215 volunteers collected 13,112 lbs of trash! I made a last-minute trip up there to show off my CleanTrek prototypes and make some connections!

People’s eyes were lighting up when I showed them the prototypes, and the founder the event himself, Ken Yager, offered to help CleanTrek get its own tent at next year’s Yosemite Facelift! I’ll be looking to join up with other Facelift events too. They’re a great excuse to explore the outdoors for a great cause, so consider planning your next trip to join one!

I also teamed up with 5Gyres to support their incredible mission! Their app TrashBlitz allows you to log litter you find, and this collective database helps lawmakers pass legislation that drives litter mitigation efforts. I’ll be using the app on all my hikes moving forward, and I encourage you to do the same!

2. Collector Updates

Many of you have made suggestions of ways to further improve the Collector, and I’m excited to announce some new capabilities!

1. The Collector now supports plastic bags of your choice! For example, dog poop bags, bread bags, and grocery bags can be attached to the Collector’s frame instead of using the fabric pouch. You still have the option to line the fabric pouch with a dog poop bag if you prefer.

(Here’s an example of how you might install a bread bag to the frame. There’s a nylon strap with snaps that goes around the perimeter, plus an extra snap + Velcro at the bottom to keep the bag from swinging.)

2. For those of you who hike with one pole, you can now attach a pair of miniature tongs to your pole, alongside the Collector! You’ll still have to bend over to pick up litter, but you’ll get your other hand free while hiking, and you’ll never have to touch the litter with your hands :)

(A tong holder attaches to your pole with a silicone band, the same way rear bike lights are typically mounted to bikes. This is the first prototype, so I’ll keep refining it!)

(Here’s an example of how you might pick up a piece of litter while hiking with this one-pole setup.)

3. The Collector can now be locked closed, which may be useful if you toss it into the back of your car and don’t want to risk litter spilling out. (It can still be locked open, too!)

(A lock on either side can be rotated to lock the Collector closed or open.)

Not to mention, this thing looks SLICK! I combined some parts and removed some material to make it lighter and more refined.

Thanks everyone for your feedback, which makes these improvements possible!

And if you don’t like looking at low-quality GIFs, not to worry - I’ll be putting together a higher-quality video very soon that details all these new features.

3. Crowdfunding Updates

Well, turns out this Kickstarter campaign is going to take more work than I realized, and I don’t see any sense in rushing it. Most of this work entails marketing efforts and better defining my manufacturing plans. For these reasons, I’m targeting February 2025 for CleanTrek’s Kickstarter. Thank you for your patience!

4. Legal Stuff

My LLC forms are all put together! But since the Kickstarter got pushed to next year, and I don’t want to file business taxes this spring, I’ve decided to wait until January to file them. CleanTrek will be an official business in just a couple months! I’m putting together trademark forms now and plan to have those applications submitted shortly after the LLC is formed.

No new updates on patent stuff, other than that we’re still on track to submit the nonprovisional patent application in February!

In conclusion…

Things are going really well! Lots of new Interest List signups (we’re up to 150!) and other expressed interest via Reddit posts and other social media platforms. Just need to keep pushing through to make this Kickstarter a reality. Thanks as always for your continued support!

Sincerely,

John McShane
Inventor and Founder of CleanTrek
clean-trek.com