Julia Griffin:

Now Ahlstrom travels the world speaking about plogging and uses his Web site to guide like-minded athletes in forming their own plogging groups.

Today, the fitness craze has spread to nearly every continent, from Japan, to Nigeria and India, where government officials have advised municipalities across the country to organize plogging sessions for their residents to combat pollution.

Earth-conscious runners use the hashtags plogga and plogging to fill Instagram feeds with posts of their plunder, and plogging has even been spotted in marathons, 10Ks and other foot races around the world.

In the U.S., ploggers plog from New York to Alaska.