Every late March, the trails around Melbourne fill up with runners and walkers participating in Oxfam100. In a nutshell, hundreds of teams fundraise for a world without poverty while enjoying some time outside (maybe a long time haha).

We, at the Plastic Runner, are super proud to say we will be running along with Paddy Pallin, Oxfam 2020's major sponsor. But this is not only running! The trash team will try to plog through those 100kms. Why plogging? Is there any relation to poverty? Well...there is, in fact, a strong relationship on how pollution affects the ones in need. That is our reason to come along and bring the topic of plastic injustice related to more impoverished communities around the world. 

A diversity of researchers and organisations have mentioned the economic injustice of plastics. I personally like Van Jones' TED talk about this issue. When we throw our rubbish away, we now know it doesn't go away. We have learnt how China, Malaysia and other developing countries have been closing their borders for "recycling" materials. The closure happened due to the high level of contamination developed countries were sending to them, making it virtually impossible to get recycled. These countries were becoming the developed world's landfills. 

Every time we "recycle", we feel like we did a good thing. We believe the recycling system works well, and that that little bottle will be a new recycled bottle after. But if we follow that little bottle's journey, we would realise it doesn't happen this way. As these materials travel to those countries, where sometimes there are no recycling systems in place, plastic gets burnt or stockpiled. The burning of plastics releases toxic fumes, causing harm to the less privileged in the world. Trash accumulates in their surroundings, creating public health hazards, and I think you get where I am going. 

As Van Jones said: " In order to trash the planet, you have to trash people. But if you create a world where you don't trash people, you can't trash the planet."

This plastic injustice is why, through our Oxfam100 plogrun, we want to make others aware of this relationship between poverty and plastics. 

Now, who are the team?!

As you might know, Oxfam is a team event, where four individuals put themselves together under the same torture for a long time. Good that we are very good friends! And also, avid ploggers!

So, here is the team:

Karin Traeger: Mother of ploggers haha I have done some long runs already.

Chrissy Webb: Plog lover and this will be her 2nd Oxfam!

Angela Bernaldo: Plog fanatic and doing her first 100km!

Mark Barger: We all know Mark as a plogging supervisor in some of our events, but Mark will be the one that will keep us going nonstop.

Now we need your help! We are putting our feet to test, and the ways you can help without getting blisters are:

• Donate through our team page.

• Share our fundraiser page.

• Join as a team (You can save $100 with our code "TEAMCLEAN")

• Join our Clean Up Australia Day plogging event on the 1st of March 2020. We will have a donation box that day.

Pretty easy, right? 

In the meanwhile, don't miss our monthly events around Melbourne! You can find them on our website's Calendar. 

Thanks for your support and we can't wait to see you around the trails!