HMM holds 'Bluehmming' plogging campaign at Han River park

HMM held a plogging campaign called "Bluehmming" with citizens and employees at Yeouido Han River Park in Seoul on Saturday, the company announced Monday.

The campaign was organized to intercept trash before it flows from urban waterways into the ocean and to promote a culture of everyday climate action. About 60 people took part, including citizens selected through advance registration, HMM employees, and broadcaster and environmental activist Julian Quintart.

Plogging is an environmental cleanup activity that combines jogging or walking with picking up litter. Beachcombing refers to a similar practice of collecting marine debris and trash washed ashore along coastlines.

The event began with an environmental education session by Quintart at HMM's Yeouido office. Quintart, who serves as a goodwill ambassador for EU climate action, introduced the "One Health" concept — the idea that the health of the planet and the health of individuals are closely linked — and led a lecture and environmental quiz emphasizing the importance of small everyday actions.

"Plogging is a powerful and intuitive act because the results of your environmental effort are immediately visible right in front of you," he said. "The experience of picking up small pieces of trash along the Han River today will become a precious foundation for overcoming the climate crisis."

Participants then fanned out across Yeouido Han River Park to collect discarded waste, including plastic debris, cigarette butts and single-use plastic bags.

HMM runs its corporate social responsibility activities along three tracks: environmental, social and global. As part of its environmental efforts, the company has conducted plogging and beachcombing campaigns over the past five years and has designated Geojampo Beach on Yeongjongdo in the Yellow Sea as its adopted beach, holding regular cleanup activities there.

"As a global shipping company, we organized the Bluehmming campaign to put eco-friendly values into everyday practice by cleaning up urban waterways alongside citizens," an HMM official said. "We will continue to expand our ESG activities, taking the lead in environmental conservation and carbon reduction."