Plogging. Eco-Friendly Fitness
Surely, everyone needs exercise. Doctors recommend getting around 30 to 60 minutes of physical activity everyday, whether that is doing a full workout at the gym or simply taking a brisk evening walk. Exercise also helps to relieve stress levels, keep your heart (and body) healthy, and clear your mind.
In recent years, there have been many new types of exercises that have gained widespread attention. We often see people doing pilates, barre, cross-fit, and even goat yoga! (Yes, they do yoga with an actual goat!!). A new type of exercise that you may not have heard of is plogging!
Here are things you need to know about plogging (and maybe you might start doing it too!):
Plogging is the combination of the activity of jogging while also picking up litter and trash along the way. Plogging started to gain more worldwide attention in 2018 due to increasing litter pollution. In fact, only 9% of all plastic ever made has been recycled. According to National Geographic, 18 billion pounds of plastics and other similar waste flows into oceans every single year. That is equivalent to “five grocery bags of plastic trash sitting on every foot of coastline around the world”. While plogging cannot obviously rid us of this problem, it helps to keep a lot of trash off the streets and in recycling bins.
Photo: UN Environment Programme
The activity of plogging was started by a man named Erik Ahlström in Stockholm, Sweden in 2016. He created a website called Plogga to promote his idea and get volunteers. In fact, plocka upp in Swedish translates to “pick up” (plocka upp + jogging = plogging). His movement spread to other countries in 2018. Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, used plogging to promote his “Swachh Bharat” (Clean India) campaign. The largest group of “ploggers” can be found in Pune, India. Started by Vivek Gurav, this group plogs daily with almost 500 people (and over 105,000 people registered with the organization in Pune). They were able to clean up 50 tons of plastic in just 20 weeks!
Image: MyFitnessPal
Some people might argue that plogging is more of a social activity and not good enough to be a full exercise routine. However, plogging encompasses many different workouts into one. Apart from jogging, you are also able to add bending squatting, or stretching (during the trash collection process), which works out many different parts of the body and keeps you in shape. Also, while plogging is generally involves jogging, you definitely don’t need to jog in order to participate! Many people have health conditions that do allow them to jog or do heavy exercise, but they can still be ploggers! Walking or hiking while picking up plastic is completely acceptable as well.
Photo: SweepAR
Why should you plog? Why should you help clean up plastic? Many times, we think that this is not our problem because we have other people to help clean up the trash for us. However, this is everyone’s planet, and we all have a responsibility to help keep it clean and keep it alive. According to Rubicon global, a single recycled plastic bottle saves enough energy to run a 100-watt bulb for 4 hours. Furthermore, over 100,000 marine animals die from entanglement in plastics and other trash every year, and helping to recycle can greatly reduce that number. Lastly, over 75% of the products you use on a daily basis are recyclable, and we only recycle about 30% of it (US stats). Recycling as much as we can (75%) would be equal to removing the pollution produced by 50 million cars on US roads!
Get out there, get plogging, and save the environment!!
Here is an inspiring story about Michelle Stronach-Marsh who runs her own bathroom design company, leads a girl guides group, and is parent to 3 adopted children - but she has one more problem in her community she wants to solve - littering.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Annik Brar is a student at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. studying International Affairs and Psychology. In her free time, she manages a support page for people with Type 1 Diabetes. She also loves photography and traveling and can speak Punjabi and Hindi fluently!