PeppyPure meets Plogolution founders Michelle Parkes and Dermot Kavanagh
Hi Michelle and Dermot! We’re big fans of yours but for those that haven’t heard about Plogolution, can you explain what it is and how you came to form this community group?
Thank you! Both of us were blown away by the amount of rubbish we found on a run one day and happened to stumble on the Swedish craze of plogging. Plogging is running/walking and picking up rubbish. We decided to hold a plog back in July 2018 and couldn’t believe the amount of rubbish a small group of us picked up over a 2k walk and a 5k run – Plogolution was born. We’ve now held over 60 community plogs across the UK and have 34 schools set to start up plogging again later this year. Plogolution has been instrumental in bringing together diverse communities to make their local areas cleaner places to live in.
How has COVID-19 affected Plogolution?
Sadly we had to put a pause on all our activities, especially during lockdown. This was doubly frustrating due to the huge amounts of rubbish we were discovering especially in our beautiful green spaces.
Now that lockdown is easing, what are your plans for the future?
We were very excited to be back last weekend for our first plog in Hounslow and were delighted to be able to give our volunteers some Peppy Pure Hand Sanitiser to take away with them. Plogolution are back to running monthly plogs in Hounslow and Wandsworth. We will also be heading back into schools as soon as it’s possible to do so. We want to educate the next generation and teach them to look after our beautiful planet.
Last year, Michelle, Dermot and a small team ran from the source of the Thames to the Thames Barrier in London. On the way they picked up 45 bags of landfill, 1,000 plastic bottles, 1,000 cans and almost 500 glass bottles on the way. Do you have any more epic targets lined up?
We do love our ultra challenges! Plogolution will be running a 24 hour plog around London in September with a small team of ploggers. We will keep track of the amount we’ve picked up and logging hot spots as well as demonstrating the huge problem London has with litter.
How do people join your group? What if there isn’t one in their area?
Please check out our Plogolution website for all the latest plogs running – we’d love to see you at one of our upcoming ones. Our aim is to have groups of volunteers running plogs all over the UK so please get in touch if you’d like to be a plog volunteer and help us to clean up the UK.
Thank you so much for speaking with us, Michelle and Dermot. We wish you all the best with Plogolution and we’ll be sure to sign up to the next one. We would like to offer Plogolution supporters a discount on 75% Alcohol Anti-Bacterial Hand Gel – please use discount code: peppyplog
Connect with Plogolution
Website: Plogolution.com
Twitter: @plogolution
Instagram: @plogolution
Facebook: @plogolution