What is Plogging?

Jogging + Picking up Litter and Trash

Plogging Comes from the Swedish Term “Plogga”

Stockholm Sweden became the first city to host an organized “Plogga” in 2016. This event combined a jog, jogga in Swedish, with picking up litter, plocka up. Plogga is an association and popular movement where the activity itself is about picking up rubbish while jogging. It is also just as easy to walk, skateboard, cycle, swim or other. Plogging is a change of attitude and plowers are proud garbage collectors who do something for our environment and health before it is too late.

Since then, over 3 million people have participated in organized or solo ploggas. Every day, approximately 20,000 people plog in over 100 countries.

HOW AND WHY DID THE IDEA OF CREATING PLOGGING IN SWEDEN COME ABOUT?

Sweden just gets dirtier and dirtier. Every day there are 2.7 million cigarette butts on our streets from a population of 10 million. For several years I have tried to change a behavior that I think is a sign of a dysfunctional society without respect for each other and earth, namely, littering.

When I moved back to Stockholm after living for 20 years in Åre, a small ski-community in northern Sweden, I realized just how dirty Stockholm had become. During my daily cycling trip from Nacka to work at Östermalm I was shocked by the amount of junk there was in nature. 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 the heart to clean up a small place.

Plogga (or plogging) is the basis of a collective name where we want to change the setting and get everyone to become "Proud litter pickers".

One does not necessarily have to run or jog - plogging can be done walking down the street, on the golf course, biking, paddle boarding, swimming or wherever you are

Read the full interview

Cleanups.org is trying to grow plogging into an even larger movement; one that turns every walker, jogger, runner, biker, beachcomber, and forest bather and, maybe, even swimmers into ploggers for every city path and nature trail that get them moving.