Plogga: The Swedish Jog That Started a Global Litter-Picking Movement

Erik Ahlström founded Plogga in Stockholm in 2016, coining 'plogging' by blending the Swedish word for picking up litter with jogging. The idea spread worldwide via social media into an estimated 2 million regular ploggers across more than 100 countries, with Plogga now running weekly plogging meetups, school programs and an annual 24-hour global trash-weighing event. Plogga also organizes and supports the World Plogging Championship, where teams of runners race to collect the most environmentally harmful litter rather than the fastest time; the 2024 edition in Bergamo, Italy drew more than 80 runners who collected 1,289 kg of waste. Ahlström received the WWF Sweden Environmental Hero award in 2025 for the movement's global reach.