topic Re: Plogging – jogging and picking up litter in Community Chat

Plogging – jogging and picking up litter

cotton4me — Wed, 04 Jul 2018 16:24:14 GMT

I wanted to give kudos to all the ploggers out there and share the information with others. There’s such a need for it. I’ve been picking up litter for a few years on my walks but didn’t know it had a name. I always carry plastic bags and gloves with me because I never know what I’ll see. Today was a particularly heavy load and I was barely able to carry it until I got to a trashcan – glass beer bottles, food containers, water bottles, juice boxes, etc.

Here’s an excerpt from a Washington Post article:

“Have you recently spotted people toting trash bags while jogging? Or their hands filled with old plastic bottles? You might soon.

Sweden’s latest fitness craze — plogging — is making its way to U.S. shores. The term is a mash-up of jogging and the Swedish “plocka upp,” meaning pick up. In this case, litter.

Across Europe, there are plogging groups in Scandinavia, Germany and beyond. In the United States, it’s just starting to catch on among exercisers who are fed up with rubbish along their route.

“I’m not going to just let litter sit there. I’m not going to just walk past that plastic bottle,” said plogger and Alexandria resident Emily Wright. “It’s not that I don’t think it’s gross to pick it up. I do. But I also think it’s gross for a person to not take responsibility for it.”

This is a photo I took after a rain storm. It's a small area/fraction of what washes up each time it rains so you can imagine all the trash that is floating in the rivers, streams and ocean.

Re: Plogging – jogging and picking up litter

tampalady — Wed, 04 Jul 2018 17:20:48 GMT

I do not Plog but have been picking up trash in my community and along roads in our area for at least 20 years. I have picked up tons of trash over that time. It is sad that you pick it up and the next few hours it is all back again. People just do not care what is happening to our earth.

Re: Plogging – jogging and picking up litter

Big Joanie — Wed, 04 Jul 2018 18:25:47 GMT

I don't know what possess people to do this ....

Re: Plogging – jogging and picking up litter

Drythe — Thu, 05 Jul 2018 01:55:09 GMT

@cotton4me

Thank you for picking up!

I have never understood those who think this beautiful wold is their personal trash can.

Re: Plogging – jogging and picking up litter

Daisy Sunflower — Thu, 05 Jul 2018 02:38:17 GMT

Once in a great while, I'll see a used diaper in a strip mall parking lot. I guess they're too lazy to put it in one of the trash cans along the walk area.

Re: Plogging – jogging and picking up litter

cotton4me — Thu, 05 Jul 2018 09:58:58 GMT

@tampalady wrote:
I do not Plog but have been picking up trash in my community and along roads in our area for at least 20 years. I have picked up tons of trash over that time. It is sad that you pick it up and the next few hours it is all back again. People just do not care what is happening to our earth.

@tampalady It's wonderful that you've been doing that for so long. I didn't realize how much of a problem it was until I retired and began walking in a nature park every day. It's unbelievable the things people throw on the ground or in the water. Like you, I've picked up so much trash (as have a few others) that I can't imagine what the park would look like otherwise. There are no cleaning crews. I don't know what people are thinking. I worry about the effect it has on the wildlife as well as the humans.

Re: Plogging – jogging and picking up litter

cotton4me — Thu, 05 Jul 2018 09:55:11 GMT

@Daisy Sunflower wrote:

Once in a great while, I'll see a used diaper in a strip mall parking lot. I guess they're too lazy to put it in one of the trash cans along the walk area.

@Daisy Sunflower

I don't understand people that can't walk to a trashcan. I came across a dirty diaper in the creek the other day. A family must have been swimming in the area and just threw the dirty diaper in the water. I also found a lot of beer bottles and food containers in the same location. It's really disgusting.

Re: Plogging – jogging and picking up litter

cotton4me — Thu, 05 Jul 2018 10:06:32 GMT

@Drythe wrote:
@cotton4me

Thank you for picking up!

I have never understood those who think this beautiful wold is their personal trash can.

@Drythe Thank you. I don't get it either. I didn't realize how bad it was until I began picking up trash on my walks. It made me much more aware of how much trash is laying around. Now I notice it everywhere. I don't know if that's a good or bad thing. It drives me crazy - ha.

Re: Plogging – jogging and picking up litter

ID2 — Thu, 05 Jul 2018 10:29:49 GMT

We power walk every morning along our country roads. I never run across any trash.

Re: Plogging – jogging and picking up litter

akaburtonfan — Thu, 05 Jul 2018 11:43:43 GMT

Good idea. Around my area you'd have to be careful what you're picking up because people have meth labs in the woods or they dump the stuff they use in the woods.

I've never understood why people think it's ok to drop their trash any place other than a garbage can.

Re: Plogging – jogging and picking up litter

Snoopp — Thu, 05 Jul 2018 12:04:45 GMT

I'm pretty sure I thwarted someone's plans to illegally dump the other day when I stopped my car near theirs. The guy fiddled around with a few papers on the passenger side and moved a bag in the trunk and finally took off. I think he wanted to dump that bag but knew I had his license plate. A few weeks ago someone dumped their lunch garbage in the same area. People have no sense or consideration for others.

Re: Plogging – jogging and picking up litter

software — Thu, 05 Jul 2018 14:48:51 GMT

It's an epidemic where I live, obviously there is no accountability.

I thought it was just my town but I've gone to different places, where you think people should know better and it's just as bad there. ( I live in a rural, somewhat less than middle class area)

One of the problems, besides just bad manners, is the cost of garbage removal.

It's expensive and the county raises the fee at the dump every year.

I live alone, don't have much garbage and I used to share with a neighbor, pay half her bill. But where I live now, people move in & out so much, I can't do it.

We can't burn either. I used to separate my trash, stuff I can burn in one container, the other is garbage. We also separate out any recycle stuff.

No matter what the reason, it's never acceptable to throw out your trash anywhere.

Re: Plogging – jogging and picking up litter

dex — Thu, 05 Jul 2018 15:09:44 GMT

When I lived in Canada garbage removal was part of the property taxes so everyone had pickup...good idea.Also most beverage containers had a recycle fee charged at purchase and refunded on return to stores.This made the odd trashed bottles worth getting picked up so you rarely spotted them.

Re: Plogging – jogging and picking up litter

Spurt — Thu, 05 Jul 2018 17:32:04 GMT

@tampalady wrote:
I do not Plog but have been picking up trash in my community and along roads in our area for at least 20 years. I have picked up tons of trash over that time. It is sad that you pick it up and the next few hours it is all back again. People just do not care what is happening to our earth.

@tampalady

Thank you for caring about your community.....

When I go for my daily walk for exercise, I also take a bag along to pick up the trash....and do it when I walk to the community mail box center too.... I just dont understand how people can just throw trash out their car windows...people just don't care and dont take pride in their neighborhood or their community AND it's a reflection of themselves, they are nothing but SLOBS!!!..............

Re: Plogging – jogging and picking up litter

SeaMaiden — Thu, 05 Jul 2018 23:53:58 GMT

Once a week, I bring a plastic garbage bag with me and pick up trash on my walk in my neighborhood. I am shocked at the trash!

Re: Plogging – jogging and picking up litter

twentysixteen — Sat, 07 Jul 2018 17:40:03 GMT

Interesting @cotton4me. Never heard that word before.

People are too lazy and careless leaving trash around. Just awful!

Re: Plogging – jogging and picking up litter

Nataliesgramma — Sat, 07 Jul 2018 18:39:45 GMT

I don't understand why some people think it is OK to just toss trash out a car window...