When hashtag social media challenges go viral, they’re usually bad news. The Tide pod challenge, cinnamon challenge, and that one where people stuck condoms on their heads were all pretty bad ideas.
But over the weekend, #Trashtag went viral, inspiring young people all over the world to buy a box of garbage bags and post photos of themselves cleaning up their local parks, beaches, and wilderness areas.
It’s believed that the trend started on March 5 when Facebook user Byron Román shared a photo of himself issuing a challenge to “bored teens” asking them to “Take a photo of an area that needs some cleaning or maintenance, then take a photo after you have done something about it, and post it.”
The post has since been deleted but it was shared over 300,000 times.
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The hashtag campaign dates back to 2015 when UNCO, a company that makes camping gear, started the #TrashTag project to challenge people to pick up 10,000 pieces of trash within a year.
Here are just a few of the hundreds of people who participated in the #Trashtag challenge:
