Moving to Clean Up Our Planet — and Our Health

Last month, we ran Frontline Plogging a frontline initiative by Frontline Forum to tackle two of the greatest crises of our age: public health and climate degradation. And it was a resounding success.

But first, you might be asking: what on earth is “plogging”?
Plogging blends movement (walking, jogging or running) with a mission: picking up litter as you move. The name comes from the Swedish plocka upp (to pick up) + jogga (to jog).

While people may have informally done something similar over the past years, the more modern plogging movement as we know it today is generally traced back to Swedish runner Erik Ahlström, who began combining his runs with litter pickup in Stockholm around 2016. Over time, the idea spread beyond Sweden into other parts of Europe, and across the globe.

Since its rise, tens of thousands of people have joined plogging events worldwide. In fact, plogging has grown enough that a Plogging World Championships now takes place annually.

Frontline Plogging Journey and Impact

The Frontline Forum team organised an international plogging event for the third time. This year, thanks to the energy of local organisers and supporters, Events took place in the UK, Portugal, the USA, Iceland, and India to name but a few countries who took part. From Welsh beaches to Swedish forests, communities rallied to clean up natural spaces.

Across all locations, participants collected over 500 kg of litter. Much of this was plastic; materials that, if left behind, could persist in the environment for centuries, break into microplastics, and infiltrate soil, water, and food systems.

The stakes are high. Plastic pollution is choking our ecosystems. Every year, an estimated 100,000 marine mammals die due to plastic ingestion or entanglement. More broadly, nearly every group of marine species has now been observed interacting negatively with plastic debris. Ghost nets, which are abandoned fishing gear floating in the oceans, are especially deadly, affecting about 66% of marine mammals and half of seabirds.

On land too, the benefits are clear. By removing visible waste, we reduce risks to wildlife, reduce local pollution loads, and interrupt the pathway by which litter enters waterways.

But plogging does more than remove trash:

• It gets people moving: an accessible form of physical activity that combines walking, squatting, bending, and reaching.
  

• It becomes a social, communal activity, fostering neighbourhood connections, shared purpose, and pride in place.
  

• It helps increase awareness of our consumption and waste habits; seeing litter close to home drives behaviour change.
  

• For organisations, it provides a tangible, visible demonstration of corporate social responsibility in action; not just pledges, but boots-on-the-ground impact.

As we reflect on this year’s successes, we’re already gearing up for Frontline Plogging 2026.

The vision is bold: to transform it from a grassroots event into a global movement — to extend its reach, amplify its impact, and bring in more institutional support.

Here’s how you (especially corporate sponsors) can make a difference next year:

1. Sponsor a zone or region
   Sponsor a city, coastline, forest area or sector (e.g. rivers, parks) and fund local coordination, equipment (gloves, bags, bins), and outreach. Your brand will be visibly associated with positive environmental and health impact.
   

2. Mobilise your employees
   Encourage teams to form plogging squads. It’s a healthy, low-barrier team-building exercise, with tangible outcomes.  

3. Provide logistics support
   Offer resources such as waste collection trucks, disposal partnerships, gloves, or branded bags. Help with waste sorting, composting, recycling.  

4. Promote & amplify
   Use your marketing channels to spotlight plogging, encourage participation, and share results. Media coverage of corporate involvement can drive brand goodwill.
   

5. Commit to longer-term alignment
   Tie your sponsorship to your sustainability goals. Use the event data (amount of waste removed, participation numbers) as part of your ESG reporting and brand narrative.
   

6. Become an ambassador or co-host an event
   Join the organising committee in a city or region. Help recruit community partners, plan event logistics, and ensure a smooth, scalable rollout.
   

Our goal in 2026 is to triple participation, multiply the weight of waste collected, and deepen engagement across communities, local governments, and corporations.

Will you join us?

Let’s turn Frontline Plogging into a signature annual movement, one that helps clean our planet, lift community wellbeing, and give organisations a powerful platform to act.
Together, we can make litter invisible, strengthen connections, promote healthier lifestyles, and demonstrate that sustainability can be measured in steps, in kilograms, and in shared pride.

Reach out to Frontline Forum to discuss how your company or team can be part of Plogtober 2026. Let’s move, clean, and thrive together.