What the heck is plogging?

It's a thing. And you might already be doing it.

Ever picked up a discarded soda can or water bottle while out for a walk, hike, or run? 

Congrats. You've just plogged.

Plogging is a mash-up of jogging and plocka upp (which means “to pick up” in Swedish). The term was coined in 2016 by environmentalist and trail runner Erik Ahlström, who kicked off a series of community runs to clean up the streets of Stockholm. What started as a local effort quickly sparked a global movement known as Plogga.

And honestly? Plogging is peak Delete Litter energy.

It’s active. It’s community-driven. It’s the kind of thing people do when they care about their neighborhood and their planet.

One of our favorite ploggers is Ben from Maine—a distance runner and emerging social media inspiration. You can find him doing his thing at @ploggarun on Instagram and TikTok.

Ben’s journey into plogging started during a winter run on a 5-mile loop he’d done hundreds of times before. That day, instead of just logging miles, he counted how many empty bottles and cans he saw along the way.

63 beverage containers. One run. $3.15 in redemptions.

In Maine, that’s enough for a Dunkin run—or a contribution to a cleaner world. Ben assumed every state offered bottle redemption like Maine. (Spoiler alert: only 10 states do.) Once he learned that, he committed to cleaning up during every run. And soon after, his mom told him what he was doing had a name: plogging.

Fast forward to today, and Ben’s cleaning up the streets and building a following—5K strong on Instagram and counting. He’s even turning his “cash from trash” into future college tuition for his kids, socking away every redemption in savings and investments.

Talk about compound interest and compound impact.

At Delete Litter, we love stories like Ben’s—proof that small, everyday actions really do add up.

Whether you’re walking your dog, training for a marathon, or just getting your steps in—if you’re picking up litter along the way, you’re part of the plogging movement.

Download the Delete Litter mobile app today and track your cleanups, share your impact, and join a growing community of everyday difference makers.

And, as Erik Ahlström might say in his native Swedish: Tack! (Thank you!)

photo credit:  Umanoide on Unsplash

 

Download the Delete Litter app today!