Cleaning up and working out: Winnipeggers get fit while picking up litter

A group of Winnipeggers have joined forces to clean up trash — and get their exercise in at the same time. 

Armed with garbage bags and litter-pickers, roughly 15 people were out "plalking" — that's picking up litter while walking — along Empress Street Saturday morning.

"When you're walking and picking up litter and you're bending down and you're putting it in the bag, it's amazing how many calories you will burn — more so than if you just walked a block," said Tom Ethans, executive director of Take Pride Winnipeg.

Ethans, who has worked with the community beautification charity for more than two decades, joined the Reh-Fit Centre last year after a heart attack. When he approached the fitness centre about plalking, it partnered with Take Pride to launch the Heart Winnipeg Plalking Club.

"They thought it was a great idea," Ethans said during Saturday's cleanup.

"There's a couple of members from my heart class that are here today and there's other people that have signed up to volunteer and come out and help make our city clean and beautiful."

Winnipeg isn't the only place the idea has taken hold — the more intense version of plalking, plogging (that's a portmanteau of jogging and the Swedish phrase "plocka upp," meaning "pick up") has a small but connected following in Canada, with ploggers showing off their trash hauls on social media.

Mel Bodnarus, 83, heard about the Winnipeg community cleanup through the Reh-Fit, where he's a member. 

"I come from East Kildonan myself, and here I am this morning getting some exercise out of this too," said Bodnarus. 

Ethans said the group had collected everything from plastic bags to a glass window to needles. 

"It's amazing how much trash is out when the snow melts, but it's people like this who come out and really help to beautify our city," said Ethans.

He estimated the group would probably collect about 50 or 60 bags of garbage this weekend. The goal is for the plalking club to hit a different area of the city every Saturday morning for the next month or two, and everyone is welcome to join. 

A schedule for future cleanups is on the Take Pride Winnipeg website.