There are many kinds of environmental struggles. In Catalonia, species like the Cape groundsel, a plant native to South Africa that has colonized meadows and roadsides, have become a silent plague on Catalan biodiversity. But, once again, behind its expansion are also stories of collective resistance: neighborhood initiatives that voluntarily organize to eradicate these invaders. Groups of NGO volunteers, farmers' groups, and environmental associations organize campaigns to remove them, using hand tools, in vulnerable areas such as country roads, ditches, and crop margins. With gloves, sacks, and wheelbarrows, they uproot the plants before their toxic seeds spread, thus protecting native, medicinal, and aromatic species that were also wiped out by its rapid expansion. These types of community actions have a dual value: physical—because they actually eliminate the invaders—and symbolic—because they reaffirm collective awareness of the environmental threat. In a context where, according to the Exocat inventory, nearly 200 exotic species are already considered invasive in Catalonia, these neighborhood initiatives serve as the first line of defense against the emergence of new invasions.
What is plogging? The sport that cleans streets, beaches, and forests
This organized activity in which you exercise while collecting waste is a growing trend.
BarcelonaThe weather is nice, and going for a run early in the morning to take care of yourself is appealing. In summer, the streets, trails, and beaches fill with people who want to take advantage of the cool hours of the day to get active and enjoy the outdoors. Among the runners, hikers and cyclists, there is a group that has gone a step further. These are practitioners of plogging, people who combine exercise with waste collection, a practice that has found its best showcase on social media.
This neologism comes from Swedish, from the word plocka upp, what does it mean collect, and mixes with jogging, what does it mean run. It is also known as plogga, in this case a fusion of the Swedish words of pick up and run: plocka och jogga. In Catalan there is no literal translation and it simply means "doing sports while collecting garbage."
The ploggingThus, it consists of taking advantage of the time spent exercising, such as running or walking, to clean up the landscape. It is an evolution of modern practices, as it combines healthy living with environmental activism. This whole movement comes together in the Plogga, created by the Swedish Erik Ahlström, which brings together the principles of this practice. "Our vision is simple: to create a clean world. We have stagnated thinking that it is wrong to pick up other people's trash," they lament. Given this, they consider the plogging A simple solution to "reverse the current negative trend" whereby everyone, they say, increasingly litters the streets and landscapes, and "help create a long-term sustainable society." This is positioned as a concrete, inclusive, and positive solution under the slogan "picking up other people's litter is no longer taboo."
A diverse activity
Ahlström began collecting trash while running in Stockholm and made it the focus of a series of events that gradually became popular. From this unique story, the practice has spread far and wide, to around a hundred countries, according to Plogga. This expansion has many reasons, the main one being that it can be practiced in very diverse environments: parks, urban areas, mountains, beaches, and trails, and, at the same time, it involves numerous sporting activities: in addition to walking and running, you can also do plogging cycling, paddling a canoe, riding a scooter and even diving or doing snorkel. The important thing is to take advantage of the movement through public spaces to collect mismanaged trash.
Behind its success is also the possibility of adapting to different physical conditions and support, since it can be done alone or in a group, as a scheduled outing. Another benefit of this activity: doing it in a group strengthens community ties and raises awareness about sustainability. "We can involve everyone in a healthy wave of trash collection that can save the world," they explain.
From this platform, they encourage people to go out every Tuesday to do plogging "accompanied by hundreds of people from all over the world." They encourage people to clean up their neighborhood, alone or with others, and, for example, post an ad in their local supermarket to meet more interested people and do it together. "All you need is a couple of trash bags and, preferably, some gloves," they explain. After properly managing the trash in the nearest containers and cleanup points, they invite people to share their work on social media using the hashtag ploggingtuesday and plogga.
Another key to this activity's success is the extra effort it takes to complete the exercise. For example, bending over repeatedly while walking or running (unfortunately, dirt is abundant) is equivalent to doing squats like the ones you do at the gym.
The Plogga initiative's website recommends some tips for getting hooked on this practice.
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Better in a group. This activity, like other individual sports, is more fun if you join other people to practice it.
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Combine it with other exercises. When picking up trash from the floor, do it with squats or a leg bend to improve mobility and get more exercise.
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Change your arm bag. Avoid muscle strain by always carrying the weight on the same strap, and wear gloves to keep your hands clean.
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It includes competitive dynamics. You can play in teams to see who can collect the most trash in the least amount of time.
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Share your activity on social media. Take photos of your sessions and post them using the hashtag #Plogging. This can inspire others.
Testimonies everywhere
There are established international references, even in countries that are, a priori, less ecologically aware, such as Egypt. This is the case of TikToker @laatplogging, who explains that "for us, it's also a way to bring people together, raise environmental awareness, and create a healthier, cleaner community." However, he admits that at first, it was difficult to organize large-scale meetings until now, when he has managed to design his own aluminum containers. In the case of Egypt, he emphasizes that each session plogging It means "less trash ending up in the Nile, the desert, or the sea," and it helps protect the region's biodiversity, and in the long run, it hopes to change the way citizens treat public spaces.
In our country, this trend has a great reference in the form of the Ultra Clean Marathon for Nature, a race held in Osona (with start and finish in Vic) coinciding with World Water Day, on March 22. This is a sporting and environmental challenge that, precisely, seeks to activate the environmental awareness of athletes. "It's a non-competitive race where you run and collect abandoned waste in natural spaces" of all kinds, they explain, it also raises awareness of environmental problems and defends the environment.
