Plogging In Nice, France

During my time in Nice for my marine bio program, I was informed that we were going to be doing weekly community service; however, they didn’t give us much information on what the community service would actually be. On the first Sunday we were there, they told us to put on athletic clothes and head out to the beach. When we got there, we met with a group of people who were part of an organisation called Nice Plogging. After speaking to them, they explained to us what they were there to do. Every Sunday they meet up for at least an hour to “Plog” (picking up trash/jogging) along the boardwalk. This is especially important for places like Nice because it’s a tourist hot spot, resulting in a lot of litter being left behind. Additionally, since smoking is a big thing in France, there were thousands of cigarette butts all over the ground. These things are also a much more pressing issue because of their proximity to the beach. Things like wind and rain can push everything not properly trashed into the drainage systems or even directly into the ocean. Something as small as a single cigarette butt can pollute anywhere from 500-1,000 liters of water.

To start our plogging, they gave each group 1 plastic glove per person, a large trash bag, and a recycled plastic water bottle to keep cigarette butts in. When we started, I think a lot of people, myself included, weren’t exactly pleased to be spending a Sunday picking up trash under the burning sun. However, as we started, I actually found myself having a lot more fun than expected. I was in a group with my friends, and it was shocking to see how many cigarette butts we found in such a short amount of time. It was also interesting to see that a lot of them were dropped only a couple of feet away from trashcans specifically made for cigarettes, but people still chose to just drop them. At the end of the 90 min we spent picking up trash, we had gone through 2 big trash bags and 3/4 plastic bottles filled with cigarettes. When we met up with everyone else in our group, we had so many bags and bottles even after such a short period of time. 

Over the next 3 weeks that we spent in France, we continued to go plogging at least once a week. During this time, I discovered that even putting in such little effort, you could see that you were making a real change. This has inspired me to potentially introduce plogging to people from where I live. From personal experience walking along the Hudson, there’s a lot of trash not only along the sidewalks but also in the river itself. If people were to start making an effort, even just once a week, to clean it up, I’m sure that we could make a noticeable difference like what I’ve seen happen in Nice.