Trashtag hashtag sweeps the world
IT IS the social media challenge that is literally sweeping the world.
‘Bored teens’ are being urged to take before and after photos of areas they have cleaned up.
The# trashtag challenge took off in the U.S. after Byron Roman posted online: ‘Here is a new #challenge for all you bored teens.
‘Take a photo of an area that needs some cleaning or maintenance then take a photo after you have done something.’
At the last count there were around 28,000 posts with the hashtag #trashtag around the world and it is rapidly catching on here in the UK.
Mr Roman breathed life into a phenomenon thought to have begun in 2015 when U.S.based hiker Steven Reinhold bought some camping equipment. When the receipt for it blew out of his car window, he vowed to pick it up along with 100 other pieces of litter to make up for it.
He then encouraged hikers to post pictures of litter they cleaned up — and the campaign gained traction after sponsorship from a camping equipment producer.
Long before Twitter and Instagram were household names, the daily Mail campaigned against single-use plastics, successfully leading calls for a charge on plastic carrier bags in supermarkets.
Between March 22 and April 23, the Great British Spring Clean organised by Keep Britain Tidy and backed by the daily Mail will take place. The campaign is hoping to gather half a million people to take part in litter- picking activities in their areas.
Nic Emery, 35, owner of the Fifth Point diving Centre in Blyth, Northumberland, is one of the Brits who have taken up the #trashtag challenge after seeing Roman’s post.
She said yesterday: ‘The trashtag pictures kept popping up on Facebook a couple of days ago, and I saw a picture of a dude sitting on a wall with all these trash bags around him. As a dive centre we are mad keen on environmental protection so we were straight on that one.
‘Where our picture was taken is an abandoned bit of land next to the dive centre. All the rubbish from the industrial estate gets snagged in there. We decided to adopt that and keep it as clean as possible.’
Nic takes part in the Great British Spring Clean each year, and also carries out a monthly beach clean. She added: ‘Litter picking is really taking off in the UK. It started with [Attenborough’s] Blue Planet.’
Another environmentally aware citizen — posting under the name ‘Moston litter picker’ — cleared up some land in Moston, near Oldham.
They tweeted: ‘Before and after, make-up and clothes dumped near Moston Brook, now cleaned up. #trashtag #litterpick.’
Hikers urged to pick up litter