Do You Want to Go Plogging?

People go jogging for many reasons. Some people run to train for a
sport, others run to improve their health and fitness. Now, there's another
reason to jog. You can run and help the environment at the same time
with "plogging", also called "eco-friendly running".

The term plogging combines the word jogging with plocka upp, a
Swedish expression meaning to pick up. Ploggers are joggers
who equip themselves with gloves and trash bags, and collect
any litter they find while jogging.

While cleaning up, ploggers also get a great workout. Picking up trash
from the ground helps strengthen leg and stomach muscles and
increases flexibility. Carrying those heavy bags of trash makes arm
muscles stronger. It's no surprise that more calories are burned through
one hour of plogging than with normal jogging.

Erik Ahlström invented plogging in Sweden in 2016. Whenever he went

bike riding through Stockholm, he noticed an alarming amount of trash
and this bothered him. "The same debris could remain in the road for
several weeks without anyone picking it up, so I started picking it up. It
felt good in my heart to clean up even a small place," remembers
Ahlström.

Eventually, other joggers joined Ahlström on his daily runs, and the
new fitness trend of plogging spread quickly throughout Sweden as
groups of runners gathered for plogging events. Ploggers began posting
pictures of themselves on social media, and the trend spread around the
world to places such as India, Russia, Ecuador, and Thailand. Through
his group Plogga, Ahlström now has a whole team of ploggers.

Today, ploggers from over 40 countries are part of the online plogging
community. School running clubs also plog, and many have members
compete to see who can collect the heaviest bag of trash.
On the photo-sharing app Instagram you can find more than 60,000
photos of people plogging! By posting pictures of the trash they find,
ploggers help raise awareness of the Earth's growing trash problem. So,
if there isn't a plogging group in your town, start your own! Just put on
your running shoes, grab a bag and gloves, and start plogging!