‘Plogger’ who combines jogging and litter picking coming to Peterborough as part of UK cleaning tour

Plogger Vivek Gurav and his team of volunteers are coming to Peterborough as part of their UK tour

An environmentalist is embarking on a UK tour which will see him and a team of willing volunteers clean up 30 cities in 30 days.

Over the past year, Vivek Gurav and his volunteers have picked up five tonnes of rubbish while out on the streets of Bristol.

Vivek began ‘plogging’ – which combines jogging and litter picking – in India in 2018, and brought the concept with him when he moved to the UK to take up a scholarship at the University of Bristol in September last year.

Vivek Gurav was invited to 10 Downing Street by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak

Since then, he has covered 420 miles on 120 plogging missions – and has been joined by volunteers from 180 countries.

“I have only been plogging in Bristol, but I kept getting asked by people to come plogging elsewhere,” Vivek, who graduated with a master’s degree in Environmental Policy and Management in November and now works in environmental consultancy, said.

"I decided to do a plogging challenge across 30 UK cities.

“Ultimately, I want to set-up a UK-wide plogging community like I did back in India.

So, if I can go out plogging across the UK – orientate people, give them a blueprint – then they can start their own groups.”

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Vivek efforts have seen him feature on the BBC’s The One Show, and receive a special award from former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

In October this year, he was invited to 10 Downing Street by Rishi Sunak, and he spoke at The UN Climate Change Conference of Youth (COY17 – youth equivalent of COP27) in Egypt the following month.

On December 17, Vivek and his team will be visiting Peterborough in the hope of inspiring others to set-up their own plogging groups.

Over the past four years, his volunteers in India have collected more than 1,000 tonnes [one million kilograms] of litter.

“COY was amazing and a real opportunity,” Vivek said.

“The award from the Prime Minister really motivated me to do more. Going to 10 Downing Street was the best thing that has happened to me.

“Now I get asked all the time by Indian people how they can come and study in the UK. They want to follow my path.”