In Six Years, This Bengaluru Man Has Organised Over 550 Plogging Events Across India
What are the benefits of running a few kilometres every day? It keeps you fit, healthy, and energetic throughout the day. And if you ask G Nagaraj, he will tell you an additional benefit - it will help keep your city clean.
That is because the Bengaluru residence has been running not just in the Karnataka capital but across India over the past six years while also picking up trash left behind by others.
The barefoot runner was one of the first in India to adopt Plogging - picking up trash while jogging.
What is plogging?
The idea of Plogging originated in Sweden in 2016, and Erik Ahlstr?m, who started plogging, came up with the idea while regularly passing by litter during routine cardio workouts.
Plogging is derived from the Swedish term?plocka upp,?meaning "to pick up," and?jogging?does precisely what it says.
As plogging caught the attention of the world, Nagaraj, a native of Guntakal in Andhra Pradesh, also took note of it.
"I came to Bengaluru some 15 years ago to pursue my MBA and later started working here. Somewhere around 2012, while I was returning from a cycling event, I saw a small group of people, who were obviously not waste-pickers, collecting trash. Out of curiosity, I asked them what they were doing. One of them told me that if they keep the area clean, people will not litter, and if there is garbage, people will dump more. This has stuck with me ever since," Nagaraju told?Indiatimes.
Since then, Nagaraju said he made it his life mission to do whatever he can to reduce wastage and keep the cities clean.
Plogging in India
In 2016, he came across Plogging and contacted Erik Ahlstr?m to discuss starting the same in India as well.
"My first plogging was in late 2016 during a marathon in Cubbon Park. There were over 500 runners and while running, I started picking up plastic bottles that were being thrown away. A few people noticed what I was doing and after the event was over, a lot of people came to me and appreciated me for what I did. That, for me, was the biggest motivation and encouraged me to do more," Nagaraju said.
What started as an individual effort soon grew through the running community.
From being mocked to being a hero?
Today it has grown into what Nagaragu calls 'The Indian Ploggers Army', which is not limited to Bengaluru, but has a presence in cities across India and is growing.
"Initially, it was tough as many people did not realise what I was doing. Some even mocked me and said I can go to their homes and pick up trash from there as well. Since the early days, I used to take my daughter, who was around 4 years old at that time, when I was plogging. She also walked around, carrying a small bag, and collected the trash lying around and put them in the waste bin. It was her way of making a statement," he said.
In 2018, during a barefoot marathon In Coorg, Nagaraju's plogging got much larger attention, including from the likes of Milind Soman, who was also a participant.?
According to Nagaraju, it helped create awareness and attract more people to plogging.
"When we started, the participation was mostly from the running community itself. But as the word spread the BBMP came forward to support us. We also received a lot of support from corporate companies through CSR. Now we are organising at least one plogging event a week, mostly on weekends," he said.
Once collected, the trash is handed over to a Bengaluru recycler, who then processes it. This also ensures that the garbage doesn't make its way back to the environment or end up in a landfill.
Creating awareness
Every plogging event is also an opportunity to create awareness about the growing garbage crisis and the need for individual actions to reduce them.
"For plogging, we usually pick a famous location of whichever city it is. That is because these places will have a lot of trash and more people will get to know or join us while we are plogging. To create awareness, we also have a pledge before we start; everyone takes a pledge to reduce the amount of plastics that they have been using," he said.
Health benefits of plogging?
According to Nagaraju, plogging has more health benefits than regular jogging.
"The beauty of plogging is that you are not just burning your calories. It involves much more exercise, like bending and other body movements, compared to just jogging. It also helps in burning your ego as well since you are picking up someone else's trash," he said with a smile.
Desire to fail as a plogger
Despite being a plogger for over six years and having organised more than 550 events, Nagaraju said he hopes he soon fails in plogging.
"The moment we start plogging, we say that we are not here to pick up trash, but we are here to create awareness on not to litter and stop using plastic. Otherwise, what happens is when you know that someone else will come and pick up your trash, you will continue to litter, and the waste will never go away. Ultimately we should all fail in plogging, because succeeding in plogging means there is littering and there is a systemic failure. Only when there is a behavioural change among the public the littering will stop," he said.
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