From throwing buckets of ice to jumping out of moving cars, internet challenges can be silly or reckless. But the latest one is finally worthwhile

The #trashtag challenge: why the big litter cleanup is an online trend we can all get behind

From eating cinnamon powder to jumping out of a moving car to getting celebrities to throw buckets of ice water over their heads, internet challenges have been, at best, extremely silly and at worst, extremely dangerous. However, the latest one – the #trashtag challenge – is getting people to clean up littered public and natural spaces. As evidence of their efforts, participants post before and after pictures on social media, then nominate another person to clean up a space. Finally, there may be a worthwhile internet challenge.

Although #trashtag has been around since 2015, when it was part of a campaign by the outdoor pursuits brand UCO, it recently blew up as a result of a post on the community discussion forum Reddit – where a user suggested it would be a good global challenge “to make the world a better place”.

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When Henning Lubbe, 21, from South Africa, read about the challenge on Facebook, he immediately set about doing it. “On my way to work every morning I pass this dumpsite. I thought, Why don’t I clean it as part of the challenge?” he says. He is now organising group cleanups with friends and colleagues. “I think this challenge can make a huge impact, especially in places like my town, where we have problems with waste management.”

Kellie Perks, 36, from Cornwall, participated in the challenge with her two children to clean up the steps in their local woodland in Newquay. “Since we cleaned it, there seems to be less litter dropped. People have noticed,” she says. “We will continue to help our local area become more appealing and teach the younger generation that it’s not cool to drop litter.”

Critics say it shouldn’t take a new online trend to get people to look after their environments

But not everyone using the hashtag has just started cleaning up their local environments. “I saw the hashtag and started adding it to my posts to make [them] more popular, but I’ve been doing this for two years,” says I Wayan Wiratama, 23, from Bali. He does weekly cleanups with the organisation Trash Hero, and says that a globally trending hashtag can really help to raise awareness of projects like his.

People who don’t have local cleanup projects are posting online to find locations where they can get involved (apps such as Litterati show areas that need help). Critics say it shouldn’t take a new online trend to get people to look after their environments. But if that’s what it takes to mobilise people to care about local spaces, so be it. This is one internet challenge we can all get behind.