TOKYO: Britain has bagged victory at the world’s first litter-picking world cup in Japan after collecting 57kg of plastic bottles and cigarette butts from the streets of Tokyo.

A prize distributing ceremony for the “SpoGOMI World Cup 2023” final, in which teams pick up as much rubbish as possible in a set amount of time, was held at the United Nations University, on Wednesday.

Tokyo’s well-kept streets may not be the most obvious place to do it, but competitive litter-hunters sifted through the Japanese capital in their first world championship.

The Spogomi World Cup saw 21 countries battle it out to collect the most rubbish within a set time limit, scouring the streets in search of plastic, cigarette butts and other trash. 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 15 years ago, taking the title from the words “sport” and “gomi” — Japanese for rubbish. He said watching the event’s maiden world championship was “like a dream”, but he optimistically believes it can grow to an even bigger scale.

“If you form national spogomi associations, my ambition is that it could become an Olympic demonstration event,” he said in front of a portion of the almost 550 kilos (1,200 pounds) of rubbish collected by participants.

Armed with gloves, metal tongs and plastic rubbish bags, each team of three roamed a roughly five-square-kilometre (two-square-mile) collection area in Tokyo’s bustling Shibuya district. Running, ransacking existing litter bins and shadowing other teams were all forbidden, with each team followed by a referee to enforce the rules.

In both of the morning and afternoon sessions, they had 45 minutes to hunt out rubbish and another 20 to sort it into categories.

Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2023