Скачать или смотреть Runners combine jogging with litter collection

(22 Jun 2021) LEAD IN:
Fitness fans in Moscow are combining exercise with a drive to clean up their local community.
The concept of "plogging", as it's known, started in Sweden around 2016, but is now finding fans in the Russian capital.

STORY-LINE:
It's a running group with a difference.
As well as getting some exercise, these runners are on a mission to clean up their local community.
Garbage bags in hand, they pick up any trash they see along their route.
It's called "plogging", a trend that started in Sweden and has now spread around the world, including to Moscow.
This eco-exercise event has been organised by the Tsaritsyno Museum-Reserve. They operate the programme from April to October.
"The point is not just to do exercise, but also to do good for the environment, and, probably, as I define it for myself, this is the development of the local community, that is to get to know people living nearby, to see new running routes, and somehow to behave responsibly," explains Olga Pugach, head of the Cultural Plogging project at Tsaritsyno Museum-Reserve.
"You can endlessly swear that someone did not take the garbage to the trash can, that it is dirty somewhere, unsafe, or you can just lean down, pick up the garbage, make it good, clean and safe for yourself and your neighbours."
The concept of plogging first appeared in Sweden around 2016.  
In Russia, the first plogging event is thought to have taken place in 2018, and since then has grown in popularity.
The Cultural Plogging project organised by Tsaritsyno this year connects the capital's cultural heritage sites.  
All the routes go through museums-reserves, estates, and nature conservation areas in Moscow.
One of the recent runs took place in the natural and historical park, Bitsevsky Forest.
"The most important thing is not how much garbage you collect, or how fast you run, or maybe kayak or cycle, we do not know, the most important thing is the very desire to move and collect trash. Yes, we will not collect all the garbage in the world, this is not necessary, the main task of plogging is not to duplicate the work of a janitor, not to make it unnecessary, it is to involve people in this civic consciousness," says Pugach.
Before the run starts, participants receive instructions and all the necessary equipment - biodegradable bags and gloves.  
The rules were developed upon consultation with international colleagues organising plogging.
Collecting garbage, while being good for nature, should be safe for participants, so sharp objects or rubbish with traces of blood must not be picked up.
"We definitely collect plastic, that is, something that will not decompose on its own, and under no circumstances touch something that you can cut yourself on," says Pugach to the participants.
Registration opens two to three weeks before the start of each event.
Anyone can take part – both professional sportsmen and people who have never done any sports before.
Pyotr Kokin has been plogging for a long time and finds a lot of positive sides to the hobby.
"Actually, you can both run and remove garbage, and also pump your muscles, because when you pick up garbage, in big bags, you basically make an effort, and it turns out like CrossFit (branded exercise regime), not just a jog, and this is very good for health," he says.
Whenever possible, garbage is separated, in particular recyclable plastic bottles and caps are collected in different bags.
Ilya Karpov, a representative of waste collector and recycling company Ubirator, explains:
The distance is five kilometres – quite easy for amateurs.  

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