I’ve never been much of a jogger, but might I make a decent plogger? A portmanteau word, “plogging” is a shunting together of jogging with plocka, the Swedish for “to pick”. The idea is that you pick up litter while out running and the activity has been growing in popularity in Sweden.

“It’s good for both the environment and ourselves,” says Anna Christopherson, the 43-year-old Swede who runs Edinburgh’s first plogging group. “It’s very good for the body to combine running with squatting to lift rubbish.”

Seven of us gather in the city for the run. We dash up Leith Walk, our rubbish bags flapping in the evening breeze. “Quite competitive, isn’t it?” says Struan, an accountant. He swoops behind a bin, calf muscles bulging, to scoop up a leaflet.

Within 10 minutes, our bags are filling up. It’s amazing – and dispiriting – to see how much mess is lying on the streets. A passing walking tour gives us some confused looks, but we ploggers, lost in a world of fag packets, carry on regardless.

Litter offers a glimpse of the city’s social mix. Calton Hill, shady haven for al fresco drinkers, is where Buckfast bottles go to die. In the park just off Regent Road, a prosperous part of town, it’s cava and Crabbie’s ginger beer. “It’s just Waitrose bags round here,” says Alana, a clinical psychologist.

Stretching for bags snagged in trees is another of plogging’s physical benefits – interval training of sorts. Vicky, an NHS statistician, skilfully stretches a leg between railings to retrieve a sweet wrapper. Carl, Anna’s 10-year-old son, introduces a parkour element, lifting a can of Red Bull mid-cartwheel. At one point, Alana and Vicky spot a huge cardboard box on Montgomery Street and, rather than dump it in the nearest bin, sprint back 200 metres to heft it into the appropriate recycling point. “Good arm workout,” Alana says.

After an hour, I’m panting and sweaty, but feeling saintly. The city is a little cleaner thanks to these Wombles in Lycra. Anna is not satisfied, though. Our efforts have made no difference to her pet hate: chewing gum stuck to the pavements.

“You need a steamer to get that off,” she says. “And I’m not going to run with a steamer any time soon.”