By Dan Tortorice
Friends of Lake View Hill Park

You might be a plogger and not even know it. 

Plogging is a trend that began in Sweden a few years ago and is spreading around the world. It involves the simple act of picking up litter when you’re out for a run or walk. The Swedish term is “plocka upp,” which means “pick up.”

We have a lot of fast-food restaurants on the Northside and just enough thoughtless people to create a fair amount of litter on our streets and in our public spaces. According to Keep America Beautiful, most litter is deposited by pedestrians, and the costs to governments and other institutions is over $10 billion annually. Litter contributes to lower property values and a reduced sense of well-being. And research shows that the presence of litter contributes to even more littering.

So joggers and walkers that stop to gather up litter are making a real contribution to our neighborhoods while gaining benefits for themselves. The bending, squatting and stretching needed for plogging result in a better workout and about 50 extra calories burned each half-hour.

It turns out I have been a plogger for several years without knowing it. So here are a few tips you might want to use if you are interested in joining this growing movement:

• Make a mental note of public trash receptacles on your route so you don’t have to carry things for long.
• Plogging is easiest when it’s trash collection day on your route. You can separate recyclables as you go.
• Gloves are necessary in winter, but a bit hot in summer. If you don’t wear gloves, try not to touch your nose or eyes until you’ve washed your hands.
• Don’t collect anything that might possibly contain human or animal feces. I suffered a bout of norovirus after picking up some questionable stuff and, believe me, you do not want to go through that.
• Do a super job of hand and arm washing when you get home.

Hopefully, plogging will become a craze all over America. There are internet apps centered on #plogging and #DoBeautifulThings, along with the fitness tracking app Lifesum. Let’s be among the first to join this fun and beneficial “plogging mania.”