John and Phyllis Holmes have picked up more than 9,000 bags of litter from the streets of Hampton, northeast of Saint John, since 2005. Researchers say what they are doing matters more than they know.
Jennifer William · CBC News
· Posted: Aug 16, 2026 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours ago
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John and Phyllis Holmes have been picking up litter on their daily walks in Hampton for years — long before there was a word for it (Jennifer William/CBC)
Phyllis and John Holmes have been walking the streets of Hampton since Thanksgiving weekend 2005 — bags in hand, picking up what does not belong.
Whether it was a coffee cup, ciggarette butt, a fast food wrapper or crushed beer can — whatever the day brought, they picked it up.
“We were joggers,” Phyllis said. “We used to run on top of litter — and I would be walking over the litter. So one day I thought, why don’t I just pick it up as I’m walking.”
John fashioned himself a stick with a nail at the end. Phyllis grabbed a pair of kitchen tongs.
This story was brought to Nouzie by RSS. The original post can be found on https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/community/plogging-quietly-cleanning-up-nb-9.7289256?cmp=rss
