CleanTrek Newsletter - August 22, 2025

Dear Subscriber First Name,

I apologize for the long silence! Life has been a little crazy since my wedding, but CleanTrek is back in full swing! Enjoy this shot of me walking down the aisle with my WIFE!!

Anyway, we are VERY close to the Kickstarter — I am currently targeting Wednesday, September 3rd! I’ll give another update in the coming days to keep you posted!

Lots of updates, so here’s a summary:

1.) Kickstarter launching in 12 days! 🎉 (with some new plans)

2.) New and improved 3D-printing methods!

3.) Lorie Solis just finished her journey along the Camino de Santiago! She hiked 504 miles and picked up 207 lbs of litter with CleanTrek’s tools! Go Lorie!!! (follow her journey on Instagram!) 🥾🥾

4.) A new video and guide are now available to show you which kinds of trekking poles work the best with CleanTrek! 🎥

5.) A demo is available for CleanTrek’s new trekking pole compatibility database! 📊

6.) CleanTrek will have its own tent/booth at this year’s Yosemite Facelift event (September 24–28)! 🏞️

1.) Kickstarter Updates and Plan Changes

We will be launching CleanTrek’s Kickstarter on Wednesday, September 3rd — shortly after Labor Day!

The manufacturing for this Kickstarter will be contingent on how many I can sell. Note that this plan is different than before, based on my last couple of newsletters. There will no longer be a separate early-access and late-access version — just one version for everybody!

If ≥1000 kits are sold, Plan A is to have my overseas manufacturer build these products via injection molding. This is cheapest per-unit option, but it requires a high up-front cost to pay for the molds.

If <1000 kits are sold, then Plan B will be to have my manufacturer build 3D-printed units, which avoids the mold costs, but is more expensive per unit than Plan A. If tariff hikes complicate things, then Plan C will be to build these in my apartment instead, which will take longer, but will offer the same level of quality.

The Kickstarter’s cost per kit will be $135 ($55 for a Grabber, $80 for a Collector). If I can raise enough money to pay for molds, then in the future, a kit might only cost $60 or so. So if you’d like to see more affordable, accessible CleanTrek gear in the future, then please help support this Kickstarter! I can’t do it without you!

2.) Better 3D Printing!

I found a 3D printing supplier in Italy that produces WAY better parts, compared to my previous method. These parts are much stronger, more accurate, and more aesthetically pleasing. They use a method called multi jet fusion (MJF), which only very recently became a more affordable option, meaning we can leverage it for the Kickstarter!

I ordered some sample parts, and here’s how they look!

These parts look SO GOOD!!! And more importantly, they’re way more durable compared to the old method. So basically, no matter which manufacturing option is used for the Kickstarter (Plan A, B or C), your CleanTrek attachments will be premium quality and will withstand quite a bit of abuse.

If you’re curious about why MJF printing is so much better than the old method (FDM), here’s some info (and some videos you can watch):

a.) The most common 3D printers, including the ones in my apartment, use FDM (Fusion Deposition Modeling). This is where plastic is extruded from a nozzle, layer by layer, to create your part.

b.) SLS (Selective Laser Sintering) is where a laser fuses layers of powder to the previous layer to create your part, which is much stronger than FDM-made parts because the layers are more strongly fused to each other.

c.) MJF (Multi Jet Fusion) is basically just like SLS, but instead of lasers, it uses a binding agent. These printers are actually made by HP and are very similar to the Inkjet printer you might have in your office! Except WAY bigger, and messier.

3.) Lorie’s “Clean Trek” in Portugal

MAJOR shoutout to Lorie Solis, who just completed her 41-day, 504 mile hike along the Camino de Santiago, all the way from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, France, to Santiago de Compostela, Spain! That’s like walking from San Diego to San Francisco, CA — wow!

With a CleanTrek Grabber + trekking pole in each hand, and a garbage can trailer in tow, Lorie collected 207 lbs of trash along the trail! She’s now celebrating at her destination and getting some much-needed rest. If you’d like to see what she’s been up to or congratulate her, be sure to check out her Instagram, and/or you can check out her recent podcast on YouTube or Spotify!

Lorie’s journey has been inspiring, to say the least, and seeing her use CleanTrek’s Grabbers is getting me so pumped for the Kickstarter! I can’t wait to see all different ways that people use these tools to rid nature of litter!

ALSO, Lorie’s 504 mile trek has been a real stress test for these prototypes. They held up well overall, but there were a few casualties: 4 broken Triggers, all broken in the same location! I’ve since redesigned that location to be much stronger, so when you get your own CleanTrek gear, you can thank Lorie for dealing with that issue so that the rest of us don’t have to :) With this design improvement, along with the improved manufacturing methods, these tools will be durable enough to handle many more 500+ mile treks!

4.) CleanTrek’s Pole Compatibility Guide

Before asking you to back my campaign, I want full transparency about which trekking poles do and don’t work well with CleanTrek. That’s why I’ve put together a pole compatibility video, as well as the pole compatibility guide below:

Here’s the short version of what I’m getting at here:

1. The Trigger and Collector will fit onto just about anything.

2. The Grabber has some nuances, since it connects to your pole’s basket threads. Your best bet is to check with our database to see if your pole is compatible, and if so, which threaded insert(s) fit your pole.

3. The length adjustment method of your trekking pole also plays a role:

   1. Telescopic with Flip-Lock tends to be the best.

   2. Foldable poles also work great, but they might rotate a bit while hiking. It’s not usually a dealbreaker, but a little annoying.

   3. Twist-lock poles should generally be avoided, but it’s not impossible to make it work.

If you don’t feel like learning all these different nuances, then you might want to check out our pole compatibility database…(see next section).

5.) The Pole Compatibility Database

The pole compatibility database is essentially a list of all the trekking poles on the market, with details about how well CleanTrek’s attachments fits each pole.

All the details about a pole get summed up as 1 of 4 ratings:

1. Excellent: Works perfectly.

2. Good: Works well, but there may be one or two annoyances as compared to an Excellent pole.

3. It’s complicated: It may work fine, but that depends on your preferences and your setup. You may need to look at the other pole details (in the database) to determine whether it will work for you.

4. Bad: Doesn’t work. Although it’s possible that we just need to design a new threaded insert to make the Grabber fit, so it’s not necessarily hopeless forever :)

Say you’re looking to buy poles for CleanTrek. You can check out the database, sort by price and compatibility, and choose poles within your price range with an “Excellent” or “Good” rating.

OR, say you already own poles. You can search them in the list and check to see if they’re compatible with CleanTrek before deciding whether to buy CleanTrek’s attachments.

You can check out a demo of the database here. Fair warning — you’ll probably have a far better experience on a desktop/laptop than on a phone. By the time you receive your CleanTrek gear from the Kickstarter, I will release the full version of the database. If you have any feedback on the demo, please let me know!

And by the way, this database will be community-driven, meaning that if your pole is not yet in the database, you can try fitting CleanTrek’s attachments and submit your results for others to see!

6.) Yosemite Facelift 2025

The 2025 Yosemite Facelift is coming up soon — September 24-28! I will have my own CleanTrek tent/booth set up this year, so if you’re able to make it, please stop by! I will have some prototypes available for people to demo!

If you don’t know, the Yosemite Facelift is an annual event where volunteers from all over join forces to pick up litter across the park! You can sign up for specific jobs, or you can simply borrow some litter cleanup gear and explore the park on your own. Last year, 1,215 volunteers collected 13,112 lbs of trash!

7.) Conclusion

Thank you all for waiting so patiently for this Kickstarter. I know it has taken longer than initially planned, but we’re making great progress, and I’m so excited for you all to finally get your hands on our litter cleanup tools! Please continue helping spread the word about the Kickstarter as much as you can! I can’t do it without you!

And if you haven’t yet, please follow the Kickstarter pre-launch page below to help me get a more accurate headcount of who’s planning to support this project!

Thank you,

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