Nebraska affiliate hosted a plogging event to help make its community a cleaner and greener place.

Keep Nebraska Beautiful President Jane Polson declared the month of June as National Plogging/ Plalking Month in Nebraska. With this new assertion came a request to the 21 local Nebraska affiliates to hold events dedicated to plogging on any Saturday in June 2018.

Keep Cass County Beautiful, based in Louisville, Nebraska, took on this request by hosting a plogging event on June 16. The exercising and cleanup event at Rhylander Park in Plattsmouth, Nebraska focused on the ideas of reuse and ending litter. The participants were able to burn calories and help take care of their community while picking up litter.

“Plogging is a unique way to raise awareness of littering while combining physical exercise with environmental protection,” Keep Cass County Beautiful Executive Director Linda Behrns said. “The result is healthier individuals and another way to keep our parks, streets and trails clean, green and beautiful.” 

Plogging is a combination of jogging and picking up objects. In Swedish, ‘plocka upp’ is defined as ‘to pick up.’ With the prefix of ‘plocka upp’ mixed with the suffix of jogging, the term ‘plogging’ was popularized. Meanwhile, ‘plalking’ combines walking and picking up litter.

The event, which was sponsored by Plattsmouth Recreation Department and Keep Nebraska Beautiful, promoted reuse by encouraging participants to bring their own litter bags. The volunteers collectively gathered 6 pounds of litter – all while plogging!

“Littering is a global issue that affects all of us by harming our land and water resources. The popularity of plogging has coincided with growing environmental concerns about public waste and safety in many countries,” Behrns said.

Keep Cass County Beautiful joined four other local affiliates in hosting plogging events. Keep Chadron Beautiful, based in Chadron, Nebraska, is set to host the next plogging/plalking event on June 30.