‘Clean & litter-free world is not far away if we take up plogging’

THANE: Plogging, that involves picking up of garbage while jogging, began as an activity by a Stockholm morning jogger, Erik Ahlstorm. A year later, plogging not just became a new term, but it was also replicated by runners and green warriors all over.
The 58-year-old Sweden national clearly seems to have inspired a growing community that follows ‘fitness and cleanliness’ that is working towards shedding the negativity associated with picking up waste.

Speaking about the concept over the phone from his residence in Stockholm, Ahlstrom said, “It began on a very personal note. When I visited Stockholm earlier last year and saw litter and plastic strewn on the roadsides, I started picking up whatever I could while on my daily run, and then asked my buddies from the Salomon running group to join me. It started as a fun activity and we called it plogga as it involved picking up litter as we ran.”

“However, within weeks of putting up pictures and videos of this initiative online, it spread throughout Sweden. Soon after I found out that it was being replicated in the US, UK and other nations. Thereafter we made a website and social media platform for Plogga and organised regular plogging drives. Our videos have had millions of hits worldwide,” he added.

Even though the fitness-and-cleanliness movement has been trending for about 12 months nationwide, the enviro-revolutionary was deeply touched when he found out that citizens of various parts of India, including Delhi, Hyderabad and Thane were now embracing his mission.

“I was ecstatic to find out that Indians too have started plogging. Plogging, for me, is not just an act of picking up litter while running. It is about a change in the mindset of citizens. Those who ignore the negative tag of waste picking, become proud litter-pickers and participate in this movement even in a small way end up refraining from littering, which is the crux of the movement,” he said.

“If this initiative spreads across every nook and corner of the world, it will reflect the transforming attitudes towards waste management. We are literally running with a purpose, and the purpose is to make the air and water clean for our survival. If we, as individuals take on this responsibility, a clean and litter-free world is not far away,” he added.