From REVERB’s Director of Partnerships, Tanner Watt
So, like many (or most?) of us, I am going crazy trying to find positive and productive ways to fill my days during the Corona virus shutdown. Netflix only has SO much content, liquor delivery is expensive, the sun is shining, and frankly I am going a bit stir crazy… so I thought I’d try something new.
Enter: Plogging.
WTF is Plogging you may ask? (I did) Plogging was developed in Sweden and it is the combination of jogging or walking while collecting litter and recyclables. It has grown into a world-wide past time in recent years. On the surface it may seem like a great way to get some exercise and make your surroundings a little nicer, but I think it goes much deeper.
So today I gathered up 3 plastic grocery bags – during the quarantine they wont let us use reusables and they keep giving me the single-use bags…so I thought I’d put them to second use – collected my dog Elvis, and set out for a Plog.
Elvis and I walked a total of 2 and a half miles in the course of about an hour. I live in a pretty clean community (so I thought) and in just 30 minutes I had FILLED 3 plastic grocery bags with waste and recyclables. Everything from cigarette butts to gum wrappers and (sadly) so many facemasks and plastic gloves.
When I returned to my house I separated the waste and cataloged what I had picked up. Long story short, in less than an hour I had over 100 cigarette butts, 4 face masks, 9 plastic gloves, 3 redeemable aluminum cans, 2 redeemable plastic bottles and a bag each full of assorted paper and plastic waste.
My takeaways from my first Plogging experience:
Sunshine is amazing and good for the soul.
My dog is rad.
People are gross.
Even in a relatively clean community there is always more that can be done.
In closing, give Plogging a try. it’s pretty fun. Also throw your damn gloves and masks in the bin. Just because they call her Mother Earth doesn’t mean she’s gonna pick after your lazy ass!
