Well that didn’t take long. Within days after mentions of the so-called #TrashTag Challenge began cropping up online, Myanmar has gotten in on the act.
And as social media challenges go — from planking to the KiKi Challenge — cleaning up trash is about as wholesome and positive as it gets.
Civic advocacy group Clean Myanmar launched their own self-titled version of the challenge on Friday, right around the time #Trashtag started to pick up steam around the world.
Dubbed #CleanMyanmar, the local version is exactly the same as the international one save for the hashtag. Local netizens and activists are asked to seek out areas inundated with trash, clean them up, and then post before and after photos. Take a look.
The original “Trashtag” campaign dates all the way back to 2015, when it was kicked off by UCO, a US-based heritage lantern company, in order to keep “our natural spaces pristine.” But it had seemingly laid dormant for years until last week, when #Trashtag and the before and after pics suddenly began reappearing.
While the “Trashtag challenge” has galvanized thousands around the world to help clean up their communities, it’s worth pointing out that local groups like Clean Myanmar and Trash Hero Myanmar have been organizing public education programs, trash clean-ups, and awareness campaigns for years now.
Just last September, some 10,000 volunteers in Myanmar took part in World Clean Up Day activities that saw 133,000 kilograms of trash collected across 30 cities.
