The Mayor of Vilnius has been promoting plogging – collection of litter while jogging

Remigijus Šimašius, the Mayor of the rapid and modern city Vilnius, took part in the DAROM campaign in a different way – by plogging. Plogging is an activity, which has originated in Sweden and has become increasingly popular, when people collect garbage on the way while jogging, thus doing both – getting some exercise and cleaning the environment.

“I want to offer plogging for DAROM campaign and all the people. This is a great way to spend time outside, to get some exercise and to clean up the environment. I always take a bag with me when going for a walk with my children, and if we find some garbage, we collect it, thus I invite all people not only to stop littering, but also to pick litter up when you see it”, said the mayor of Vilnius while jogging.

The way of spending leisure time and healthy lifestyle gaining popularity throughout the Europe is expected to become popular among residents of Vilnius. According to physicians, the entire body is working while plogging – the muscles of the legs work while jogging and back muscles work when picking up litter.

Today residents of Vilnius and guests of the city joined in the spring environmental clean-up campaign Darom 2018. Participants in the campaign collected garbage in any many as 37 clean-up points, swept pavements and removed graffiti from the walls, thus cleaning up their beloved city.

The Vilnius municipality has been sponsoring one of the largest clean-up campaigns: it provided garbage bags for waste and reached agreements with waste carriers on prompt removal of waste collected during the collective work from common areas and public spaces. Also the plan was to have public order employees at all 37 points ensuring that waste collection points do not become illegal landfills after the campaign.

Representatives of the annual initiative “Mes darom!” (English: We do!) said that during the campaign, they often find mountains of maliciously piled up waste and tires in those same places in the surroundings of Vilnius during the year.

For example, EUR 150 000 was allocated to resolve this problem in Vilnius in 2015 and 2016, allocating EUR 130 000 for this purpose last year. About EUR 15 000 is allocated each year for the removal of waste collected during “Mes darom!” campaigns.