'Plogging', a combination of trash collection and jogging, is growing in popularity among socially aware fitness fans. Zhang Yangfei reports.

If you take a casual after-dinner stroll in downtown Shanghai on a Wednesday evening, you may bump into an unusual group of joggers.

They are easy to spot; each member swings a pair of long bamboo tongs back and forth in one hand, while holding a plastic bag in the other.

If you are standing still, they may suddenly halt in front of you and use their tongs to search the area around your feet.

There is no need to be worried, though, because they don't have a problem with you, but rather with what may be lying near your shoes - litter.

They bend down, reach out with their tongs and pick up any litter lying on the street. It doesn't matter if it's a water bottle, fruit peel or a cigarette butt, they toss it in their plastic bags and then carry on jogging.

Their number varies - sometimes it's seven, sometimes 10 or even many more - while their ages range from 18 to 50. Some are Shanghai natives, while others are expats.

Every week they show up at various locations in the city and collect litter as part of their usual 6-kilometer run.

They are Trash Running China, a group dedicated to "plogging", a fast-growing trend dedicated to eco-friendly jogging.

Growing trend

Though plogging is new to China, it's been a feature of life in Sweden since 2016. The name derives from two Swedish words, plocka and jogga, meaning "to pick up" and "jogging".

The use of plogging-related posts and hashtags has facilitated a growth in popularity that has made headlines in more than 40 countries, including some in Asia, such as India and Thailand.

China is catching up fast, or to be more accurate it was never left behind.

Plogging first made headlines last year when Nanchang Evening News in Jiangxi province reported that a local man had been picking up trash while jogging for more than six years.