Cagayan de Oro Mayor Oscar Moreno and city staff join the Urban October Mayors Challenge with “plogging.”
“Plogging” is a regular, twice-a-month activity spearheaded by the CLENRO (City Local Environment and Natural Resources Office), which is also mandated to manage the city’s solid waste. With staff from other departments, CLENRO chooses different areas in the city to do plogging, which is essentially picking up trash while jogging and walking. Apart from carrying the usual water bottles and face towels, city hall employees wear gloves and carry trash bags and tools to pick trash up. The activity intends to encourage people to be conscious of their solid waste and where it ends up (mostly in the waterways). For a city that invariably gets flooded during rainy days, the LGU hopes for less trash in CDO’s streams and rivers, better solid waste management, and a citizenry that is active and environmentally-conscious. Plogging works two-fold by achieving better health (SDG 3) while contributing to sustainability in cities (SDG 12). This fun (and free!) activity offers a unique alternative to community Zumba sessions, helps solid waste management, and encourages eco-friendly mobility for the young and old alike.
#UrbanOctoberPh
#MayorsChallengePh
A joint campaign by UN-Habitat Philippines and the League of Cities of the Philippines, the Mayors’ Challenge champions mayors as leaders of positive behavior change by tasking them and their staff to feature a particular urban sustainability practice that can meaningfully contribute to sustainable urban development.
For more information, contact alli1@un.org
