LDSS students launch plogging campaign

By Mark Ribble

LEAMINGTON — Five students from Leamington District Secondary School are taking a unique approach to getting their exercise and helping the local environment.

They’ve launched a plogging campaign in Leamington and are challenging other students and residents of the area to join in.

Plogging is defined as the combination of jogging and picking up litter. It began as an organized activity in Sweden in 2016 and has spread across the world.

The LDSS group is hoping to modify that, asking people to just take a trash bag with them when they exercise and pick up anything along their route.

“You could be jogging, walking, cycling, or doing any other sort of exercise,” said Kalin Lougheed. “Just take a bag with you.”

One of her partners in the project is fellow IB student Connor Strong, who is looking at the benefit to wildlife.

“This is a large positive impact on wildlife and marine life,” he said. “We want this to help clean up our community.”

The LDSS plogging group, from left, Kalin Lougheed, Leah Pare, Connor Strong and Jacob Berry. The crew met up Saturday to pick up some trash along the greenway near the school. Absent from the photo is Eshal Tariq.

Sun photo

Connor noted that it takes a thousand years for a plastic bag to break down and he’s seeing more and more of those on the ground, especially with the pandemic.

“We’re seeing disposable masks everywhere and a lot more takeout containers than before,” he said.

Jacob Berry says plogging will help everyone stay active as well.

“We want to help stay active and give back to the community,” he said. “The pandemic has taken a toll on physical and mental health, and a lot of our school work is done on computers now.”

For Eshal Tariq, she’d like to see lots of community involvement, even though this is a school campaign.

“We want to get the word out through all media and hope that the community joins in,” she said.

The campaign will begin as soon as possible, with the students currently studying for final exams.

Leah Pare hopes that fellow students can use this as a way to get their community service hours and help clean up the environment at the same time.

“This will run all summer,” she said. “And it’s an activity that we can do safely.”

It’s a great idea in the eyes of their teacher, Cheryl Klemens, who is helping them get the word out to the community.

“It helps the kids get outside and get some community hours,” she said.

The group is setting up a competition for LDSS students to upload photos and lets them know that they’ve collected some trash. Jacob Berry has designed a Google Form for the students to upload to.

As for the general public, they encourage you to do the same to help the community.

“We want to ensure that Leamington is a clean and beautiful place,” said Jacob.