What a load of rubbish pickers. Britain clean up at litter-picking World Cup
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Britain's team sort out garbage they collected during a trash picking competition known as SpoGomi World Cup in Tokyo, on Nov 22.
PHOTO: REUTERS
TOKYO – Britain came out on top when 21 teams from around the world gathered in Tokyo this week to collect litter in the inaugural SpoGomi World Cup, an initiative aimed at raising awareness of environmental issues.
The teams of three from countries as far afield as Australia and Brazil scoured the streets of Shibuya and Omotesando for 90 minutes over two sessions looking for waste and then sorting what they had found into appropriate categories.
Britain’s team, The North Will Rise Again, beat Japan by earning 9,048.1 points for collecting 83.7kg of rubbish.
“A lot of the other teams maybe were more ecological, and less sport, and we’re probably the opposite,” team captain Sarah Parry said after collecting the trophy on Nov 22.
“But we’ve taken so much away about how much we need to clean up our oceans and reduce litter. It’s been a really good experience.”
But Japan’s famously high standards of hygiene and cleanliness made finding rubbish on the streets challenging for some of the competitors.
“Sometimes it was really hard because there wasn’t really that much trash,” said Team USA member Beatrice Hernandez.
“But that’s also when we just have to look a little bit deeper, like in the bushes, or just really focus on the cigarette butts on the floor.”
The name SpoGomi comes from the conflation of an abbreviation of “sport” with the Japanese word for trash, “gomi”.
Many years back, SpoGomi founder Kenichi Mamitsuka started to pick up litter on his morning runs and realised that setting targets could turn it into a fun activity.
He organised his first competition in 2008, and said that watching the event’s maiden world championship was “like a dream”, and he optimistically believes it can grow to an even bigger scale.
The initiative has since grown in popularity to the extent that some 230 contests have been held in Japan in 2023.
Organisers the Nippon Foundation said the World Cup had been held to raise awareness of environmental issues, in particular plastic pollution in the oceans.
Britain’s team, “The North Will Rise Again”, beat Japan by earning 9,046.1 points for collecting 57.27kg of rubbish.
PHOTO: REUTERS
“The first important thing is to make people who are not yet aware of the marine waste problem realise the situation of litter in the ocean,” said executive director Mitsuyuki Unno.
“The second purpose of this event is to provide opportunities for people who have become aware of the issue and want to take some action.”
The second World Cup is planned for 2025. REUTERS, AFP
