--- ---  # ‘Ploggers’ keeping China’s great outdoors clean, pristine  _A family takes part in a mountain cleanup activity on March 21\. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY_ By ZHENG JINRAN On a recent Saturday morning, 12-year-old Lele from Tianjin arrived at Beijing’s Western Hills carrying a tool he had prepared himself — a litter picker. Ahead of him was a 5-mile mountain hike expected to last four or five hours. Yet unlike many children his age, Lele was not focused on reaching the summit. Instead, he was looking for trash. As he walked along the trail with his mother, Qi Ji, he scanned the roadside constantly. A bottle cap tucked beneath a bush, a discarded tissue, a plastic wrapper hidden among rocks — none escaped his attention. Whenever he spotted litter, he quickly clutched it with his picker and passed it to his mother who carried a large garbage bag on her back. This was Lele’s second time joining a volunteer mountain cleanup activity. “Once I told him about the activity, he started preparing his own equipment,” Qi recalled. “After participating in organized mountain cleanups, he simply can’t ignore litter anymore when he’s outdoors.” For Qi, the experience has become a form of environmental education far more vivid than classroom lessons. What began as a volunteer activity has gradually become a shared lifestyle. And they are far from alone. Across China, growing numbers of young professionals, outdoor enthusiasts and families are participating in “plogging” — picking up trash and litter while jogging. The idea of combining exercise with environmental responsibility started in Sweden a decade ago and now extends to hiking, running or walking while collecting litter. For many early participants, environmental activism was not the starting point. Zheng Jiajia, one of the organizers of the Beijing event and a key promoter of the X-Plogging initiative, first began collecting litter while trail running. During long-distance runs in the mountains, she repeatedly encountered piles of discarded bottles, food packaging and camping waste in otherwise pristine landscapes. “You’ve walked so far and seen such beautiful scenery. Then you reach a viewpoint and find yourself surrounded by trash. It’s heartbreaking.” At the time, litter collection was largely carried out by experienced hikers, trail runners and outdoor enthusiasts who spent significant time in the mountains. Chen Ya, leader of Beijing-based volunteer group “Mountain Guardians,” had a similar experience. She began hiking in 2019 and participated in events across China, becoming increasingly concerned about the environmental impact of growing outdoor recreation. Many of her group’s earliest cleanup activities focused on Beijing’s famous Three Peaks route, a challenging 13.7-mile trail linking several mountain summits, and with a cumulative elevation gain of around 1 mile. The route was demanding for experienced runners. Carrying bags full of collected trash made it even harder, she said. “In the beginning, most participants were strong hikers and trail runners,” Chen said. “Cleaning up the route was often more difficult than simply running it.” The results were striking. In April 2024, volunteers collected more than 238 pounds of trash along the route. In March 2025, another cleanup removed over 441 pounds of waste. Yet, in recent year the volunteers have noticed something has changed. “The amount of garbage on the same route has clearly decreased,” Chen said. “Whether or not the number of people littering has changed, at least there are more people willing to pick it up.” The profile of those participating in the cleanup has also expanded. “The threshold has become much lower,” she said. “We used to mainly attract experienced outdoor enthusiasts. Now we reserve places for children, and those spots are often filled within minutes.” The same trend is visible nationwide. According to Liu Xiaoyu, head of Xterra China, which launched X-plogging in many cities, participation in environmental outdoor activities has undergone explosive growth in recent years. “What we are seeing is a transition from a niche community to the mainstream,” she said. Initially, participants were largely environmental advocates and experienced outdoor athletes. Today, urban professionals aged 25 to 35 and family groups have become the dominant force. The rise of plogging is closely tied to China’s rapidly expanding outdoor culture, one of the country’s fastest-growing lifestyle trends. Industry observers have said China’s outdoor community is entering a more mature stage. Beyond conquering summits or sharing scenic photos online, participants are paying greater attention to concepts such as those pioneered by the Leave No Trace organization, which encourages environmental stewardship and responsible outdoor recreation. The shift is also reshaping sporting events. Many trail-running competitions now encourage athletes to carry reusable cups to reduce waste. In 2025, Xterra and the Chinese Mountaineering Association jointly published China’s first Mountain Outdoor Sports Environmental Protection Guidelines, helping establish standards for environmentally responsible outdoor activities. Against this backdrop, mountain cleanups, beach cleanups and lake conservation events have become increasingly common across the country. [](https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/) ## China Daily Website - Connecting China Connecting the World Since its launch in 1981, China Daily has grown to become the nation’s leading English-language newspaper. With a combined print, online and mobile readership of more than 470 million, it serves a vital role in telling the world about China, providing valuable insight into the world’s second-largest economy. [LEARN MORE](https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/) China Daily - TIME - Partner Content - ‘Ploggers’ keeping China’s great outdoors clean, pristine ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/branded-content/china-daily/ploggers-keeping-chinas-great-outdoors-clean-pristine/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/branded-content/china-daily/ploggers-keeping-chinas-great-outdoors-clean-pristine/"},"headline":"‘Ploggers’ keeping China’s great outdoors clean, pristine","datePublished":"2026-07-29T21:03:20.717Z","dateModified":"2026-07-29T21:03:07.285Z","description":"‘Ploggers’ keeping China’s great outdoors clean, pristine","url":"https://time.com/branded-content/china-daily/ploggers-keeping-chinas-great-outdoors-clean-pristine/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[],"articleSection":"","image":[],"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":"https://time.com/branded-content/china-daily/ploggers-keeping-chinas-great-outdoors-clean-pristine/","name":"‘Ploggers’ keeping China’s great outdoors clean, pristine"}}]}] ```