French jogger’s litter selfies led to global scheme

Jogger Nicolas Lem­onnier thought little of picking up rubbish from the roadside while on a run but posting a photo on Facebook of him doing so has led to a global litter scheme.

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The Nantes osteopath said: “People immediately reacted to the photo and things took off!”

He formed a Facebook group, Run Eco Team, with members posting selfies with rubbish... then Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg got in touch and posted a film on his own page and the number of people joining the scheme rocketed to 50,000 in 103 countries.

There is now also a Run Eco Team app for members to log their efforts.

Nicolas, 35, later joined Mark Zuckerberg for a litter run in Palo Alto, California. “He is a nice guy. Everything was very relaxed and natural.”

That run might not be his last with a globally known figure as President Macron’s officials said he was interested in joining him on a collection run when he has time to do so.

All that is needed are rubber gloves in a light bag and a second bag for the litter.