750 people clear city of 380 kg of plastic waste

Ploggathon’– a run for a cleaner Mysuru, evoked good response, with the participants collecting 380 kilo of plastic waste, on Sunday. By collecting 2.3 kg of plastic, Mayur emerged as winner and was awarded Rs 10,000 cash prize.

As many as 750 people participated in the event, which was inaugurated by former Indian cricketer Javagal Srinath and retired professor M Krishnegowda near Kote Anjaneya Swami temple. Mayor Pushpalatha Jagannath, MLA L Nagendra, MCC Commissioner Gurudatta Hegde, Health Officer Dr D G Nagaraju were present.

Hundreds of people, including children, students, senior citizens, officials, women, actively participated in the event, also an exercise of ‘Swachh Survekshan-2020’ league. Prior to the event, a team performed street play about cleanliness, which inspired several to take part in
Ploggathon.

Interestingly, Mayur and a woman, who bagged the consolation prize, took part in the event after being inspired by the street play. The civic body selected ten best participants for consolation awards and were presented Rs 500 each.

For the first time, Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) organised the ‘Ploggathon’, a combination of jogging with picking up litter. The event aimed to create awareness against discarding plastic waste. The participants were all excited to participate in the event.

Plogging started as an organised activity in Sweden in 2016 and spread to other countries in 2018, following increased concern against plastic pollution.

As a workout, it provides variation in body movements, by adding bending, squatting and stretching to the main action of running, hiking or walking.