Plogging: The New Trend You May Not Have Heard Of

Ploggers run wearing gloves so that they can collect any litter they come across on their route. They pack it all into a plastic bag – which they also carry with them – and deposit it into the appropriate recycling receptacles. Their aim is to prevent this litter from making its way into the ocean, from tainting wildlife habitats and from polluting human drinking-water sources.

The unusual activity has been picking up traction outside of Scandinavia too. An informal group has recently sprung up in Paris with the apt name of ‘Plogging France’. A pub-based running group out of Edinburgh, Scotland, have also begun to collect trash on their weekly runs.

Runners with a taste for environmentalism the world over have been taking note. What is todays fad seems set to be gaining enough momentum to go worldwide. The hashtag #plogging has been doing the rounds on Instagram from the farthest reaches of Thailand, Australia and New Jersey in recent weeks.

Wonderfully simplistic, yet with the power to enact real change, ‘Plogging’ may soon evolve from a craze into a necessary activity with scientists speculating that there will be more plastic than fish in the oceans by 2050. With millions of runners worldwide, particularly in busy cities where the majority of plastic waste originates, maybe they can help stem the tide of littering.

Do you think litter is a problem when you go jogging? Maybe we’ll be seeing Plogging running events in the UK as a remedy to roadside litter.