Plogging? What’s that then?!

5 minute read

advice / stories

12th October 2021

Michelle

You’ll be forgiven if you’ve never heard of ‘plogging’ before. The co-founders of Plogolution certainly hadn’t until a couple of years ago. Plogging is a Swedish craze and translates into running and picking up rubbish at the same time!

In July 2018, Dermot and Michelle held their first plog in Putney. Over a 5k run and 2k walk, 16 volunteers picked up over 30 large bags of rubbish. What really stuck out however was the community spirit involved and also the sense of achievement at the end when, as a team, you could see how much you’d gathered off streets, paths and waterways.

Plogolution was born! Since then Plogolution have held over 70 large scale community plogs across the UK. Bringing together diverse communities to get fit and look after the planet at the same time. We’ve had plogs of almost 120 people, those aged from 1 year old to 85 years old; showing that anyone can have an impact on where they live. Thousands of volunteers, tonnes of rubbish – that’s plogging in action!

The Plogolution team are passionate about demonstrating the impact that littering has on the environment and encouraging communities to take pride in where they live. Yes, it may not be your litter but that doesn’t mean you can’t remove it.

As well as the extra calories burnt bending down to pick up rubbish, plogging gives you that double endorphin hit. You’ve had some exercise but also given something back. Studies have shown that volunteering can even help you live longer! Winner winner!

So, you want to try out plogging? Where to start? Well it’s as simple as getting yourself a pair of gloves and/or a litter picker and heading out with a rubbish bag. Tag us in your litter photos on social media – we’d love to see them @plogolution. Please do wash your hands thoroughly after and avoid any sharp objects.

Plogolution also run regular plogs around London and beyond – check out Plogolution.com for all the latest ones coming up. Don’t have one in your area and fancy heading one up? Get in touch, we’d love to hear from you and can help you start up a group in your area.

Plogolution have also taken the plogging concept into schools and we educate pupils on the global impact of littering as well as encourage them to set up school plogging clubs. These amazing little eco heroes have taken thousands of cans. plastic bottles, cigarette butts and general waste off our streets.

At Plogolution we support Runr’s Leave Nothing But Footprints Virtual Run. We only have this one beautiful planet and by coming together we can make a difference, one discarded plastic bottle at a time.

We want to say a huge thank you to Michelle and the team at Plogolution for their efforts and we hope each of you will try plogging at some point in the future!

You can follow more from Plogolution on any of the links below:

Website: www.plogolution.com

Twitter: @plogolution

Instagram: @plogolution

Facebook: plogolution