Iconic plogging

special care for country parks

Plogging: a combination of picking up litter and jogging. As a workout, it provides a balanced activity for your body. For the environment, it offers a chance of recovery for garbage-strewn hiking trails.

With support from The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, HKFYG launched the HKFYG Jockey Club Youth Sports Development Project in September 2020. Since then, it has been taking groups of up to 100 12-35-year-olds out into the countryside to go plogging. The activity involves a wide variety of physical movements: bending, lifting and stretching combined with the main actions of running, hiking or walking while picking up litter.

So far, over 100 plogging volunteers have been trained to help on the project which has included trails in Lion Rock, High West and Tai Cham Koi country parks. There will be a total of 48 trained teams doing four cleaning trips each. Members from each team clean up while jogging according to their planned route, and the type and quantity of the picked up rubbish is be recorded.

Training includes:

Level 1 MOUNTAIN CRAFT TRAINING

§ Knowledge of mountaineering in Hong Kong § Mountain safety § Countryside Code and care for the environment § Environmental awareness in field activities § Knowledge and choice of hiking equipment and clothing § Journey planning § Map reading § Compass use § Hiking skills § Food

Plus LEAVE NO TRACE (LNT) awareness workshops and online environmental education lectures

Leaving rocks, plants and other natural objects exactly as you find them is the core principle of LNT.

Seven principles of LNT

§ Plan and prepare ahead § Travel and camp on durable surfaces § Dispose of waste properly § Leave what you find where you found it – except litter § Minimize campfire impacts § Respect wildlife § Be considerate of other visitors

Feedback from pop star guests Mirror:

Sports Mileage Ambassador, Lokman@Mirror says:

“The problem of waste pollution is serious in Hong Kong’s mountains, and there is so much garbage here. We could not clean up all of it even we spent the whole day plogging. We should take action and save our countryside.”

Alton@Mirror, comments:

“Plogging is a piece of cake when we go hiking but everyone should always take the responsibility to remove their own garbage. Even better, step forward and encourage others to keep the mountains clean.”

PLOGGING

Stockholm in Sweden was the first city to host an organized “Plogga” event in 2016. It combined a jog, “jogga” in Swedish, with picking up litter, to “plocka up”. “Plowers” are proud garbage collectors who do something for both the environment and their health.

Today, “Plogga” is an association and a popular movement. Whether you walk, jog, run, skateboard, cycle or swim while you collect rubbish, it’s all about a change of attitude.

Since 2016 over 3 million people have participated in organized or solo “ploggas” around the world. Every day, approximately 20,000 people plog in over 100 countries and some plogging events have attracted over 3,000,000 participants.

Read more

• en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plogging • plogging.org/what-is-plogging • nps.gov/articles/leave-no-trace-seven-principles.htm Countryside covers about three-quarters of all the land in Hong Kong, even though it is one of the world's greatest cities. Its rural landscape rises from sandy beaches, wetlands and rocky foreshores to heights of almost 1,000 metres and includes woodland, scrub, hills, grassland and mountain ranges. The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department manages the parks and is responsible for tree planting and litter collection.

Sadly, with the rise in popularity of hiking and other healthy outside pursuits has come a great deal of litter. During the pandemic, the problem got worse. Takeaway food meant that more than 100 million disposable plastic items were thrown away every week. Local NGO, Greeners Action, called it a “plastic disaster”.

Dates Ongoing until August 2023 Monthly for most of the year More details facebook.com/ CommunityTeamSports/ photos/2096565480486292 cts.hkfyg.org.hk

Enquiries Arthur Cheung Tel 3611 6674

Email arthurty.cheung@hkfyg.org.hk Web facebook.com/CommunityTeamSports cts.hkfyg.hk/sportsmileage/ Sponsor The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust