Bristol’s 'plogger' says picking up litter on his daily jogs keeps him fit physically, mentally and emotionally and he recommends it as perfect exercise to shed those unwanted pounds. Plogging is jogging while picking up litter along the way, and Vivek Gurav brought it to Bristol after moving here from India.
The 27-year-old has just completed 30 days of plogging in 30 UK cities, where he collected 360kg of litter with local volunteers. He said he still ‘plogs’ for 35 minutes a day without fail, whatever the weather.
Vivek added: “At least one piece of litter is my daily requirement and I never break that chain. It also makes you focus on something else other than your own personal struggles and issues.
“Plogging really is a stress buster and it’s like a treasure hunt to see what you can pick up. Also people do not always connect picking up litter with climate change, but there are the small actions that matter the most.
“Picking up litter is not a dirty job, but is related to your own personal health and well-being. I always feel fit, calm and composed when I’ve been plogging." The most common items he comes across during his daily ‘plogs’ are beer cans and coffee cups, but he described litter as being “treasure that can be re-used, upcycled or refurbished.”
Vivek started plogging in his home city of Pune in India while studying for his undergraduate degree, during which time he established plogging groups. From an initial small group, he said that he soon had over 10,000 ploggers in 34 cities across India.
“It was the first time I had stayed in a city when I went to Pune, which is one of the most populated cities in India and it was really polluted which disturbed me. People said they pay their taxes and it’s the government’s job to collect the litter, but each one of us carry responsibility for the environment, so I started picking it up,” he said.
In 2021, Vivek arrived in Bristol to take up a scholarship for his postgraduate studies and started a local plogging group. Having completed his plogging tour around the country during December, Vivek said Bristol and Brighton were two of the cleanest cities he'd seen in the UK.
“Before coming here to the UK, I thought I would not pick up litter but that changed when I landed and saw people littering.
”The city centres are often clean compared to other parts, but people should focus on going to the outskirts,” he said. He added that his 30 cities in 30 days plogging tour was to create awareness around litter and climate change and that he enjoyed engaging with so many local communities.
Vivek logged the materials used in each piece of the collected 360kg of litter. Through this he calculated data which approximates to a 500kg CO2 savings based on the emissions of manufacturing and extracting those materials.
Having graduated with his MSc in Environmental Policy and Management at the University of Bristol, he is now working for a UK environmental consultancy and plans to use the skills he has learned to help make India more sustainable.
He said goals for this year include visiting schools to teach young people about collecting litter and recycling. “I want to reach every household and kids are great messengers,” he said.
During his time in the UK, Vivek has received the Points of Light Award by then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson, visited No 10 on the invitation of current PM Rishi Sunak and spoke at COY17, the youth version of COP.
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