--- title: Viral Challenge #trashtag Persuades People to Pick Up Litter description: The #trashtag hashtag went viral over the weekend, challenging social media users to clean up their communities canonical: https://time.com/5548966/trashtag/ author: Ciara Nugent article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-03-11T12:40:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:02:47.063Z og:title: Viral Challenge #trashtag Persuades People to Pick Up Litter og:description: It's an unusually wholesome internet trend og:url: https://time.com/5548966/trashtag/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8b73a2ea86e17845/69894687b21a9c0aea50040d/gettyimages-998268334.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5610 og:image:height: 3156 og:image:alt: litter-trashtag-viral-trend og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Viral Challenge #trashtag Persuades People to Pick Up Litter twitter:description: It's an unusually wholesome internet trend twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8b73a2ea86e17845/69894687b21a9c0aea50040d/gettyimages-998268334.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # People Are Picking Up Trash in Parks and Beaches for the 'Trashtag Challenge' > Sponsored content. 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Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-futureproof-2026q3/newsletters?i=4e20f551-b056-498f-a342-01923f85769c&cr=time-nl-futureproof-2026q3-v1) ## Video: A Pilot Whale Has Died in Southern Thailand After Swallowing 17 Pounds of Plastic Waste [Watch (HLS stream): A Pilot Whale Has Died in Southern Thailand After Swallowing 17 Pounds of Plastic Waste](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/faZQT5L9.m3u8) (1:10)  _Published 2018-06-04. A pilot whale died last week in southern Thailand after eating more than 80 plastic bags and other debris, Agence France-Presse reports._  by [Ciara Nugent](https://time.com/author/ciara-nugent/)  ## Ciara Nugent Mar 11, 2019 12:40 PM UTC  Monty Rakusen – Cultura RF/Getty Images  by [Ciara Nugent](https://time.com/author/ciara-nugent/)  ## Ciara Nugent Mar 11, 2019 12:40 PM UTC As online challenges go, #trashtag, which went viral on social media over the weekend, is a pretty wholesome one. Hundreds of people shared photos of themselves litter-picking in trash-strewn parks and streets on Saturday and Sunday, while calling on others to start cleaning up their communities. The idea for #trashtag has been around for several years, with [one company](https://www.snewsnet.com/press-release/uco-launches-trashtag-project-to-keep-nature-beautiful) promoting the idea back in 2015 as a way to protect threatened wilderness areas. But it gathered steam over the weekend, as users on [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/trashtag/?hl=en), [Reddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/wholesomememes/comments/az3ejn/this%5Fshould%5Fbe%5Fthe%5Fnew%5Fchallenge%5Fto%5Fmake%5Fthe/?utm%5Fsource=reddit-android) and [Twitter](https://twitter.com/hashtag/trashtag?f=tweets&vertical=default&src=refgoogle) shared dramatically different before and after photos of one wooded area where a man bagged up hundreds of plastic objects — accompanied with an invitation to find a place “that needs some cleaning or maintenance” and “take a photo when you have done something about it.” The idea soon spread, with some social media users incorporating “trashtag” into their weekend trips. > [](https://twitter.com/frizhbee/status/1104596839511277569) > [](https://twitter.com/steben316/status/1105065198799544320) Others cleaned up in their local communities. Many added a message explaining why movements like #trashtag are needed to protect natural landscapes. ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5548966/trashtag/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5548966/trashtag/"},"headline":"People Are Picking Up Trash in Parks and Beaches for the 'Trashtag Challenge'","datePublished":"2019-03-11T12:40:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:02:47.063Z","description":"It's an unusually wholesome internet trend","url":"https://time.com/5548966/trashtag/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Social Media","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8b73a2ea86e17845/69894687b21a9c0aea50040d/gettyimages-998268334.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ciara Nugent","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ciara-nugent/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8b73a2ea86e17845/69894687b21a9c0aea50040d/gettyimages-998268334.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"litter-trashtag-viral-trend","caption":"Man picking up plastic pollution collected on beach, North East England, UK","creditText":"Monty Rakusen – Cultura RF/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5548966/trashtag/","name":"People Are Picking Up Trash in Parks and Beaches for the 'Trashtag Challenge'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"A Pilot Whale Has Died in Southern Thailand After Swallowing 17 Pounds of Plastic Waste","description":"A pilot whale died last week in southern Thailand after eating more than 80 plastic bags and other debris, Agence France-Presse reports.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/faZQT5L9/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2018-06-04T15:09:26.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/faZQT5L9.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5548966/trashtag/","duration":"PT1M10S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5548966/trashtag/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```