Keeping Fit and the Environment Clean In One Lap

Felix Tagba a Togolese journalist and environmental activist has combined sport and environmental protection to spark a trend: Eco-jogging. This Eco-jogging initiative was launched by Tagba in January 2017, bringing together Togo’s eco-friendly and keep-fit enthusiasts who want to reduce the amount of plastic waste in their communities. Tagba first got the idea for Ecojoggers during workout sessions in a field where he noticed a lot of trash. This bothered him. He then launched an appeal on social media and people made suggestions. Among these was eco-jogging. So Tagba gave it a shot, hoping his efforts would raise awareness of the dangers of indiscriminate disposal of plastic wastes. At the end of the four-hour Éco-jogging session, the exhausted joggers gather at the entrance to a recycling unit, located at the outskirts of the Togolese capital. The coordinating team of the day deposits the collected trash, to the cheers of the gathered joggers. Like other major cities in the West African region, Lomé faces a proliferation of plastic waste. While plastic consumption globally has quadrupled over the past 30 years, only 9% of plastic waste is recycled, while 22% is mismanaged.

SOURCE: TRUE AFRICA