Date: May 20, 2024

Distance: 6.2 miles

Listened to: Hit Me Hard and Soft album by Billie Eilish

This blog takes me back to why I began running the in the first place: Dad.

May 20th is Dad’s birthday. He would have been 81 this year and he has been gone for almost six years. But do we sit around feeling sad? No! We pick up litter and jog…we plog!

To elucidate further, the word ‘plogging’ is a combination of the words ‘jogging’ and ‘plocka’, which means ‘to pick’ in Swedish. The item being picked in this instance is litter. Erik Ahlström was the first to start using the term in Stockholm in 2016 and it has caught on.

In the past few years, I reckon I have been a pretty decent litter picker (see below) when I am out walking with Derek the dog and I have scooped up a few bits of rubbish on a run, but never actually gone out the door with litter picking and running as my two objectives.

Dad’s birthday was the perfect time to start. He was a prolific litter picker. He volunteered for The National Trust and cleaned Burling Gap beach near Eastbourne regularly. Even as vascular dementia stole so much of his personality and physical abilities, he would more often than not, return home from a walk with rubbish in his hands. He was a crusader against litter! He was also an incredibly fit and talented sportsman in his time, so blending a fitness activity with clearing the streets and trails seemed the right thing to do.

But plogging comes with its challenges. Here are my five top tips and observations if you ever fancy giving it a go!

#1 Best time to go
The best time to go plogging is the night before the recycling bins are collected. It’s genius! As you fill your bag with litter, you can stop along the way to recycle what you can into other people’s recycling bins, boxes or bags that they have left out the night before. Sure, some people may have an issue with you using their facilities but I am sure if you explained what you were doing, they would be fine with it. You are then litter picking AND recycling…while also lightening your load. More on that later.

#2 Enjoy the stops
If you are a reluctant runner, then plogging could be for you as there are breath stops built in and they are for the good of our environment. If you see a piece of litter on your favourite trail then you are duty-bound to come to a stop. Hoorah, built-in rests on your run! But these stops and rests make you a good person! Perfect!

#3 Warm up your hamstrings
Unless you are very sensible, which I am not, and always keep your back straight and bend your knees when you pick something off the floor, then a hamstring stretch before heading out may be a good idea! Even the most careful bender though may get caught out because when you are in full flow and then spot a crisp packet out of the corner of your eye, you tend to stop abruptly and whip it off the floor, and get running again. The good bending practice may just go out of the window, especially if you are past the crisp packet before you see it. My hamstrings did protest but I think it did them some good. I kept telling them it was for a good cause and they did not hurt the next morning.

#4 Do not take dangerous risks
If you run along roads where there are no pavements then you will already be aware of the lack of space drivers give you. This will not change just because you are plogging. Unless you can see there is no traffic head of you (or behind) then do not risk your safety for the sake of a piece of litter*. Being crouched down as you pick will make you hard to see. Look after yourself.

#5 How to carry your plogging bag
What equipment you take is down to you. You may want to use gloves and a grabber*, but I would find the former sweaty to wear and the latter, annoying to carry. I went out with a solitary biodegradable plastic carrier bag…and it took me three miles to work out how to carry it. Sadly, I picked up half a bag’s worth of litter before the first mile was done. I kind of clutched the bag and its contents in an awkward fist hold. By three miles, I had done away with this and resorted to just holding the handles, which meant the bag swung into my legs while I was trying to run (the only reason I did not run up Cattery Hill…maybe!) At the top of the hill, I had worked out how to carry the bag. I twisted the top closed, held it in my fist and then tucked the bag under my arm so I kind of had a running arm style position, albeit a still one. This was so much better and revolutionised my run, although the downhills helped!

I ended up picking up two bags’ worth of litter but managed to recycle half of it so I was left with single-use plastic that I put in the bin. I had plogged! It was harder than I thought but it felt worthwhile. I had cleared one of my favourite areas to run (apart from the hill).

I do think that much of the litter comes from the recycling bins that I was decanting to, which makes me feel better about my fellow humans. However, there was a discarded McDonald’s cup that had clearly been chucked out a car window after the recipient has travelled at least 18 miles to buy it. That does make me sad.

What is not sad, is doing something positive to make the world a better place. Happy birthday Dad!

*I just want to point out that I am not the health and safety guru of plogging. Please use the equipment you want to use and take care.