Meet Vivek Gurav, Indian youth who aims to clean up 30 UK cities in a month

He started plogging -- jogging and litter picking -- in India in 2018 but did not want to stop there. After leaving the city of Pune to take up a scholarship at the University of Bristol, he has resumed his cleanliness drive in the UK.

In the last one year, Vivek Gurav and his volunteers have picked up 5,000 kilograms of rubbish, including 3,000 kg of plastic, in Bristol and is now aiming to clean up 30 cities in the UK in 30 days.

The 27-year-old environmentalist's mega mission has seen coverage of 420 miles so far on 120 plogging work and he has been supported by volunteers from as many as 180 nations, The Independent reported.

Gurav doesn't just want to accomplish his cleanliness mission but also hopes to inspire others by setting up plogging groups across the UK.

“I have only been plogging in Bristol but I kept getting asked by people in Manchester, Leeds, Derby, to come plogging there,” he was quoted as saying by The Independent.

“So I decided to do a plogging challenge across 30 UK cities.

“Ultimately, I want to set-up a UK-wide plogging community like I did back in India. So, if I can go out plogging across the UK, orientate people, give them a blueprint, then they can start their own groups.”

Gurav, a former app developer, is set to be joined by fellow ploggers, environmentalists, and runners as he takes public transport to touch down each city.

The cities that feature in his plogging itinerary are Derby, Nottingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Manchester, Liverpool, Leicester, Birmingham, and Worcester, the report added..

Gurav, who has moved to the UK to study MSc in environmental policy and management at the University of Bristol, has won an award from former British prime minister Boris Johnson and spoke at the COY17 conference – the youth version of COP27, the United Nations climate summit.

He said the award from the former premier encouraged him to do more and now people look up to him as an inspiration, asking him how they could also follow his path.