A New #Trashtag Challenge Has Gone Viral, and It’s the Best Thing That’s Ever Happened to the World

The #Trashtag Challenge has already gone viral. We’ve all seen trendy challenges from the past, like the Ice Bucket Challenge, but you won’t need to brace yourself for the cold while doing this one. On the contrary, it will make your soul and your surroundings healthier.

The challenge was originally a project started in 2015 by UCO Gear, an outdoor gear company. But it was revived thanks to Facebook user Byron Román who made a post calling on “bored teenagers” to take the challenge.

Román dared them to clean an entirely littered outdoor space and upload before and after pictures of the area to social media using the hashtag #Trashtag. The response was massive and unexpected: As soon as the trend began, the internet did its job and the challenge went viral.

On Instagram, the hashtag has been tagged in at least 255,933 posts. It’s even has gone multilingual and engaged Latin Americans who are posting their pictures using the hashtag #basurachallenge, “basura” meaning trash in Spanish.

BONUS: Here’s the same idea done years ago in Hong Kong. It really does make a difference.