Cleaner Communities! Here's How This Indian Student Is Getting People To Keep Streets Of Pune To UK Litter-Free

Plogging, a Swedish concept, combines the ideas of 'jogga' (jogging) with 'plocka upp' (picking up). It encourages people to combine the two activities and keep their local streets clean while they remain fit and healthy.

An Indian student hailing from Pune, Maharashtra, has managed to take this concept to a community level and carry it along with him to the cities of the United Kingdom (UK). The award-winning environmentalist and self-described 'Plog Man' is now the inspiration behind the larger trend of 'plogging' in UK cities.

Marking The Map Clean

Vivek Gurav, originally hailing from Pune, was a student who inspired many localities and volunteers to take pride in keeping their cities clean. In 2018, he set up a plogging community known as 'Pune Ploggers' and familiarised over 10,000 members with the concept of picking litter as you go. The community conducted several missions and collected over one million kilograms of garbage.

Around the time, Vivek received a scholarship position at the University of Bristol in Southwest England on September 2021. Even as he switched cities, his social responsibility stayed intact, and he was able to build a plogging community even in the UK.

According to a report by the New Indian Express, he held over 120 plogging 'missions' with volunteers from 180 countries and could cover over 420 miles. Vivek says that while he has only been plogging in Bristol, many volunteers enquired about drives in Manchester, Leeds, Derby, and more. With the growing response to the plogging campaigns, he plans to take it to about 30 UK cities.

Sharing the route map of upcoming cities on my #30CityPloggingTour
Join me. Spread the word. Lets talk #ClimateAction pic.twitter.com/dkLG05wTkb

— Vivek Gurav | The Plog Man (@vcgurav) December 10, 2022

Ultimately he hopes to set up a UK-wide plogging community as he did back in his home ground. The media report quoted him saying, "if I can go out plogging across the UK, orientate people, give them a blueprint, then they can start their own groups." His plogging missions continue to gain traction and are being tracked actively across his social media handles. He hopes his movement will soon bring together a larger group of fellow ploggers, environmentalists, and keen runners.

Recognition For The Work

Earlier this year, his efforts across the cities of Derby, Nottingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Manchester, Liverpool, Leicester, Birmingham, and Worcester won him the 'Points of Light Award' from 10 Downing Street, which is an honorary given to people making a difference in their communities. He was also recognised for the 250 running challenges he set across Bristol with over 140 volunteers to collect waste and clear out almost 3,750 kilograms of litter.

The award came as a surprise to Vivek, who believes that such recognition could amplify the cause of climate action that he has been hoping to send a message about. He says that the missions are driven by the simple idea that every individual and every action counts in this collective race to combat climate change.

Acting Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Bristol, Professor Judith Squires, was also full of praises about their student's drive to change the world for the better. Squires noted that Vivek's life took a dramatic turn of events after he came to the UK for his Master in Environmental Policy and Management MS, which shows through the kind of reach his mission has been receiving.

Vivek was recently invited to Egypt to speak at the Conference of Youth (COY) 17, the Official Youth Constituency of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). While he initially started off with efforts to make India more sustainable, his skills and efforts have begun resonating with a larger global community and have been acting to resolve one of the greatest environmental concerns plaguing the world.

Also Read: This Man's Initiative Has Cleaned Up 4,00,000 Kg Of Waste From The Himalayas In Four Years