A PLOGGER has visited Reading as the latest in a series of events aimed at tackling the problem of litter in cities across the UK.
Environmentalist Vivek Gurav took to the streets of Reading as part of his “plogging” tour of 30 towns and cities, which sees him jogging and picking litter.
He began the practise while he was in India in 2018 and continued after moving to Birmingham to study in 2021.
“I’ve been in the UK for the last year,” said Mr Gurav, “during which I’ve been busy with my studies, but now I’m taking this challenge.”
Following his graduation from the University of Bristol, Mr Gurav has been joined by volunteers from 180 countries over 120 litter picking “missions.”
Having covered 420 miles, he was featured on BBC’s The One Show and received an award from the Prime Minister at the time, Boris Johnson.
“I am able to see patterns in the litter– it starts with cigarette butts, which is quite a mess every in every city,
“Then, it depends on the kind of people that city has– tourists means seeing a lot of coffee cups, or with students you’ll see a lot of beer cans and bottles.
“It’s everywhere, but I’m also able to see where people try to take care of their surroundings, and there are also irresponsible citizens too.”
In October, he was invited by Rishi Sunak to 10 Downing Street and spoke at November’s COY17, the youth version of the COP27.
Gurav said that he feels civic organisations are trying to tackle the problem: “City councils are generally doing their jobs everywhere,
“But there are a few who don’t support those efforts, or feel that just paying their taxes is solving the problem.
“What’s your role in this beyond giving your money?”
Mr Gurav said that he feels individuals’ attitudes to sanitation and tackling refuse may be partly to blame.
“Here, it’s a job that needs a lot of dignity to pick up after someone, and even if you’re doing it for some money, that’s how they run their lives and feed their family.
“But we have to be careful enough that we don’t create a lot of mess so that they have to keep on picking.
“It’s a hectic job, a tedious job in which you have to make a lot of manual efforts, and how much do we think about our fellow human beings?”
His experiences while living in India have given him an insight into how those who tackle trash are seen.
“I’ve seen back in India, the job is not so dignified compared to UK– people there suffer a lot when they pick up litter because those the amount of resources they have.
“The automation things that we see in the UK just is not relevant to India.”
The different view of those who pick litter in the UK leads to complacency, he argued: “Theres this empathy that people carry in India because because they feel bad for them.
“Here, I realised that people are like ”oh, it’s a job they’re doing, they’re getting paid for it So why should I take care of them now?
“And that’s what I’m trying to do, to spread the message that climate change is a crisis– but more than that, taking care of people around us is also necessary.”
Speaking about his own experiences while visiting towns and cities picking litter around the UK, he said: “I had thought that this would be really hectic and stressful for me.
“I’m travelling every single day, I haven’t taken a break since first of December, and I’ve completed 20 cities already.
“But it wasn’t that hectic; it’s relieving that I get to go to different places, meeting people there who appreciate and understand what I’m doing and why.
“I’m really able to create an impact through this campaign, and its creating more and more passion in me, and I feel like I shouldn’t stop.
“I feel like I should travel the whole of the UK, and maybe other countries as well.”
Mr Gurav’s journey can be followed online by visiting his Instagram page.
