Some people simply shake their heads and sigh in frustration when they come across litter on their street, local park or community. Then there are others like Jan Towne who decide to do something about it.
A resident of Onemo, Towne started the Mathews County Ploggers Facebook page in March 2020 as a way “to get people outside and to beautify the county.”
Towne explained the Swedish term “plogging” as “the art of picking up trash while walking, jogging or running.” She even has a “plogger jogger” that her husband, Shawn, made for her out of an old double baby jogger to store the litter on their litter pickup outings. It looks like a tricked-out rolling trash can.
The third annual plog-a-thon was held in March with the very active Mathews County Ploggers taking part.
Though Towne has found a positive way to help with the county’s litter problem, she still gets frustrated. When she took part in cleaning up Ridge Road in February, it took a total of 17 hours over five days to fill 48 huge...