Recreational Litter CLEANUP Toolkit

This Recreational Litter Cleanup Toolkit provides resources to assist local and regional governments, nonprofit organizations, and other entities interested in hosting recreational driven litter cleanup events such as plogging, plalking, pliking, and pladdling, or creating educational campaigns to encourage these activities.  

Litter is a major problem, and litter cleanup is a major expense for local governments each year. Volunteer litter cleanup events help combat the problem and combining them with recreational activities is a growing strategy for communities to engage new audiences in litter cleanup efforts. Recreational litter cleanup activities do not have to be burdensome or time consuming. Events or campaigns can be scaled to fit your organization’s capabilities and goals and can easily be added on as another participation option for annual clean up events such as the Great American Cleanup.   

Recreational Litter Cleanup events and educational campaigns are a great way to engage outdoor recreationists in cleaning up and protecting the outdoor spaces they enjoy by encouraging them to incorporate the practice into their routine activities. 

A great place to start is understanding the different types of recreational litter cleanup activities, their history, and where they came from. Plogging is a term invented around 2016 by Swede Erik Ahlström referring to the act of picking up trash and litter while jogging. It is a portmanteau of the Swedish term plocka upp, which means "to pick up," and the English word jogging. Following this pattern, we get:  

Plogging = Cleaning up litter while jogging  

Plalking = Cleaning up litter while walking  

Pliking = Cleaning up litter while hiking or biking  

Pladdling = Cleanup litter while paddling (in canoes, kayaks, or on stand-up paddleboards)  

For simplicity and conciseness, the term “plogging” will be used throughout most of the following resources. However, these materials can be applied to all recreational litter cleanup activities.  

If you are looking to plan and implement a Recreational Litter Cleanup event or just to encourage these activities in your community with an educational campaign, take a look at the available resources below. In most cases, resources are downloadable and editable for your specific needs and branding, and are organized into six categories. If you are looking for just social media templates to promote recreational cleanup type activities in your community, jump straight to the Promoting Your Event section.  

*Please be aware that the drop-down menus below will automatically collapse after a selection is made. To avoid collapsing, right click on a link within the drop-down and select “Open in a new tab (or window).”

Planning Your Event

A Recreational Litter Cleanup really can be as simple as gathering a group together to pick up litter during a fun walk or jog through the park or a hike along a path. It can also be more complex, tapping into the competitive nature of individuals, by incorporating picking up litter into a 5k or offering prizes for participants who logged the most miles or bags while picking up litter in a month.

Thorough planning of your Recreational Litter Cleanup event in advance allows you to lay out all the aspects you want to include, get any partners on-board, and have everything ready to-go when the Cleanup event starts. The planning checklists in this section and the resources in the other sections will help as you begin the planning process.

If you are a Trash Free Texas Partner and have sites on the Adopt-A-Spot Map you can also encourage the different groups who have adopted your sites to participate in the Recreational Litter Cleanups.

Helpful Resources:
• Community Recreational Litter Cleanup Event Planning Checklist
• Individual Recreational Litter Cleanup Planning Checklist

Promoting Your Event


There are countless ways to promote your Recreational Litter Cleanup event. The methods you choose will be determined by the audience you want to reach, your budget, and the platforms you have available.

Included here is a social media toolkit for promotion of a Recreational Litter Cleanup event. If you are wishing to hold a Recreational Litter Cleanup campaign without a kickoff event for the initiative, these templates can be modified to provide you with plenty of content about plogging and other cleanup activities. You may wish to provide your participants with the Individual Recreational Litter Cleanup Planning Checklist located in the Planning Your Event section above if the cleanup efforts will be decentralized or promoted as a “clean where you are” event. Also listed below are How-To Guides that can be used in educating and promoting these cleanup activities in your community. The PSA videos are another great way to share these cleanup activities online in conjunction with your promotional efforts.

Helpful Resources:
• Social Media Toolkit (Facebook, Instagram, Nextdoor)
• How-to Guides
1. Plogging (Eng/Span)
2. Plogging Print Format
3. Pliking (Eng/Span)
4. Pliking Print Format
5. Pladdling
6. Pladdling Print Format

In addition to the resources above, there are several digital tools, with both free and paid options, that can enhance your promotional efforts. The listing of the resources below does not constitute an endorsement of any particular tool, but instead encourages you to investigate what tools are available to you.
• Canva is an online program that includes templates for flyers, social media graphics, and more.
• An email marketing software such as Mailchimp, ConstantContact, or MyEmma can help you organize contacts and create and send customized emails.
• For larger annual events, a custom website might also be a tool to consider. Some website building platforms include WiX, Weebly, GoDaddy, Mailchimp, and more.

In the age of smartphones, adding Quick Response (QR) codes to promotional materials can also help potential volunteers easily access your website, social media account, or even a document. A quick Google search will provide more information and several resources to help create QR codes for your use. We’ve also created this guide Using QR Codes in Your Public Outreach Efforts to help walk you through this process.

To post videos of your event, like the examples above, there are also many platforms to choose from. You can post a video on your Facebook page or Facebook Watch, or do a Facebook Live video. You can also post videos on your Instagram account, and often you can link Facebook and Instagram. YouTube and Vimeo also allow you to post videos to your account - and if you host the video on those platforms you can get a link to post the videos to social media or embed them on your website.

Hosting Your Event


When the day of your cleanup arrives, a little planning and other resources can help the event run smoothly. A day-of planning checklist and examples of other resources can be found here.

Helpful Resources:
• Community Plogging Event Day of Checklist
• Example Certificate Trash Free Texas Branding
• Sample - Sign In Sheet
• Sample Volunteer Safety Sheet

Event Results


It is important to decide beforehand on the metrics and methods that will be used to calculate and report the collected litter. Linked below is a worksheet to help you plan this step:
• STOP Data Sheet
• Tracking and Reporting Plogging Event Results

The Texas Litter Database launched in 2021 and collects litter cleanup data from across the state. The platform allows you to enter data collected using various collection methods and to retrieve and analyze data from across the state. A field data form is available on the website, and you can add your cleanup events in advance so that you can enter data afterwards or allow participants to report directly to that event with a QR code. Even if you do not utilize the Texas Litter Database to have volunteers report their data directly, we recommend recording your litter cleanup totals afterwards so this information can still be reported and tracked.

Finding Partners and Leveraging Events

Any kind of collaborative event, including a Cleanup Challenge, requires partners. Don’t limit partners to just one kind of role or organization – partners can compete in the Challenge, help you staff or enhance your cleanup event, or even sponsor your efforts; and they can come from a variety of backgrounds including Keep Texas Beautiful affiliates, nonprofit organizations, local government, local businesses or industry, and even specific companies like waste hauling services.

You can also leverage other events to help get access to physical and promotional supplies, increase the volunteer appeal, or just check two boxes with one event. If leveraging another event, it is always important to check their requirements for participation, promotion, etc.

Some examples of regional, state, national, and international events you might be able to leverage include:
• The Don't mess with Texas Trash-Off®
• The Keep Texas Beautiful Fall Sweep
• Keep America Beautiful's Great American Cleanup
• The international World Oceans Day
• The concurrent National Cleanup Day/World Cleanup Day

For assistance finding and reaching out to local recreation groups, try reaching out to local sporting stores for their assistance in obtaining contacts with clubs or groups to invite as participants. Some examples of local recreational groups to connect with include:
• Running clubs
• Walking groups
• Cycling clubs
• Paddling clubs

Highlighting Success and Making Traditions

After the event, be sure to share the results with all participants and the community so they know the total trash reduction impact they had on their community. If you collected participant emails, you could share results in an email or newsletter, but consider also sharing results on a public platform, such as on social media or in a press release to reach more people who might be interested in participating in the next event. If you plan on making the event annual, you can also encourage people to save the date for the next event when you report the results.

Helpful Resources:
• Promoting Plogging Event Success

 

Plogging Waste Stations

If your community would like to make plogging and related efforts a continued focus year-round, creating plogging waste stations with signage can be a great way to further these efforts. Plogging waste stations combine a trash receptacle together with educational signage in a public space, such as a park, to prompt action by recreationists. These waste stations are encouraged to be combined with existing structures such as doggie waste stations or trash cans along a trail or near a pavilion to be the most cost effective. They may also be erected as stand-alone stations near litter hot spots that do not have a waste receptacle nearby. Each community should decide what is most effective for their needs when it comes to installation cost, location, and emptying of associated waste receptacles. These signs may also be posted without a nearby waste station as an educational touch-point.  

Resources

Plogging Waste Station Signs – These sign templates can be printed as a metal sign or on high quality weather resistant stickers for a more budget friendly and versatile option.

Sign Templates Using Trash Free Texas QR Code - Includes Option to Customize – For communities who do not have the resources or wish to create an educational webpage on plogging activities, these signs have the Trash Free Texas logo and a QR code that will take users to an educational page on the Trash Free Texas website. If a community desires, the signs can be customized by adding its logo using the version called "Customizable." Simply click on the blank white field in the customizable version and you will be prompted to add an image. "Print" formats of these items, with trim marks and color bars, are also available.
• Plogging
• Plogging – Print Format
• Plogging – Customizable Version (Eng/Span)
• Plogging – Customizable Version, Print Format (Eng/Span)
• Pladdling
• Pladdling – Print Format
• Pladdling – Customizable Version (Eng/Span)
• Pladdling – Customizable Version, Print Format (Eng/Span)

Customizable Sign Templates Using Your Own QR Code – For communities who have the resources, or desire, to create an educational webpage on plogging, these templates allow for personalization by including two white fields in the Customizable version. One white field is for uploading a QR code to direct users to your webpage. The other white field is for a logo. Simply click on the white field and you will be prompted to upload your image.
• Plogging – Customizable with Placeholder for QR Code (Eng/Span)
• Plogging – Customizable with Placeholder for QR Code, Print Format (Eng/Span)
• Pladdling – Customizable with Placeholder for QR Code (Eng/Span)
• Pladdling – Customizable with Placeholder for QR Code, Print Format (Eng/Span)


QR Code Instruction Sheet – This instruction sheet walks users through what QR codes are and how to create one of their own.
• Using QR Codes in Your Public Outreach Efforts link

RECREATIONAL CLEANUP TOOLKIT - PILOT PARTICIPATION SURVEY

The below linked survey is intended to collect feedback from pilot users on our recreational litter cleanup toolkit and resources after being put through a real-life application. We appreciate your feedback and participation in piloting these resources; your responses provide value by helping strengthen and streamline them.

 

The North Central Texas Council of Governments received funding from the United States Environmental Protection Agency to develop this toolkit, which was completed through a partnership with the Houston-Galveston Area Council and Texas State University.