Rubbish gets competitive - 27th October 2023

‘Spogomi’ originated in Japan in 2008 and is a sport in which competitors have to collect rubbish. The name’s a combination of sport and gomi hiroi, which means litter gathering in Japanese.

Sivasit Wanarungson’s taking part in the sport in Thailand as it suits his interests.

"We are runners, we love running. And Spogomi, Spogomi means sport and 'gomi' means garbage. We love to collect and separate the waste and we love sporting. So I think this activity matches for us."

Each Spogomi team, made up of three members, is allocated an area of roughly one kilometre square. Any breaking of Spogomi rules is treated very seriously – such as putting a foot outside of the team’s area, which results in losing points and might even see the team disqualified. Other rules prevent players from using transport of any kind, running, collecting large items or bags of rubbish or going onto private property.

Teams are allowed one hour to gather litter from the streets and a further twenty minutes to split and bag it for different recycling bins. Points are awarded according to the weight of the plastic, paper, glass, cigarette ends and so on which have been successfully collected and sorted.

Spogomi’s risen in popularity to the point that the first Spogomi world cup is being held in Japan this November. Qualifying rounds have already taken place there, as well as in twenty other countries.

Although Spogomi’s enjoyable for all concerned, the purpose behind it’s a serious one, explains world cup organiser Takayasu Udagawa.

"We created the Spogomi because the marine litter problem is becoming a serious problem all over the world. The litter is not from the sea but from the land. The trash littered goes into the ocean through the rivers, so we have to pick up the trash."