First Spogomi World Cup in Japan: "the most earth-friendly sport"
There are even world championships in Spogomi, the sport of litter picking, which was invented in Japan around 15 years ago! This week, the world's first world championship took place in Tokyo, where the aim is to collect as much garbage as possible in a predefined time. 21 teams from all over the world took part - from the Philippines and Morocco to the USA, Brazil, Australia and Europe. They had to undergo a strict selection process in their home countries in order to take part in Japan.
"Our basic idea is that we want to make the planet cleaner," says Kenichi Mamitsuka, who invented the sport 15 years ago while jogging. "I kept seeing garbage lying around on my regular running route," explained the 56-year-old event manager. "So I bent down after the garbage in such a way that I didn't slow down. And soon I thought to myself: That would actually be a great sport!" He came up with the rules and invented the game. At first he played with friends, then the concept was extended to schools. In the meantime, it has become a mass phenomenon in Japan.
"The fact that there is now a World Cup is like a dream," says Mamitsuka. "We want to ensure that it becomes fashionable to collect and separate waste all over the world," said Yohei Sasakawa, Chairman of the official partner Nippon Foundation, at a press conference these days.
How Spogomi works
A team consists of three people. They may not move more than ten meters away from each other while collecting garbage. Each team is accompanied by a referee who monitors compliance with the rules. You then have one hour to collect garbage and points using metal tongs in a pre-determined area. There are three different garbage bags:
- a transparent one for cigarette butts, where 100 grams of cigarette butts = 300 points
- one with blue lettering for residual waste, where 100 grams of residual waste = 10 points
- one with red lettering for plastic, 100 grams of plastic waste = 20 points
Different collection strategies
"Different approaches to the game have even emerged," said the Spogomi inventor.
Meike Lukat from Haan in the Rhineland, who was in the race for Germany with her twelve-year-old daughter and her daughter's friend, said in Tokyo: "We went for mass." Other troops concentrate on smaller items of garbage such as cigarette butts, which weigh less but score more points.
Raising awareness that is fun
"We have a very big problem with waste in our country. Not only, but also on the streets," explains Tauqueer Malik, team leader of the Pakistani Spogomi team and works for the Pakistani logistics company Bin Qutab International. His boss had read about the upcoming Spogomi World Cup in the newspaper, whereupon they initiated a tournament. "For us, an event like this can raise awareness of environmental pollution," says Malik. "We are a young population. The more fun it is to clean up places, the more promising it is."
The world champion was Great Britain, with the host country coming second. In total, all participants collected almost 550 kilograms of waste.
Our pro.earth.conclusion:
It's good to read about such positive, meaningful activities, especially when they are combined with fun, exercise and community. We hope that one day there will be no more Spogomi World Cups, because there simply won't be any more garbage like this.
Left:
Official page of the Spogomi World Cup
