Li Shuai, a 26-year-old mountain climber, chanced across the group in the Gele Mountains in April. Intrigued, he joined soon after. "Sogor and her husband are really cool. We should be more active in protecting our environment," he said. Now, each time the athletic man climbs, he makes a video of him and his friends filling a bag with garbage and then shares it on his social media account to encourage his peers.

Sogor said, "what one person can do is limited, so we run together to make a bigger impact".

She said that TrashRunning has groups in 16 cities, including Shanghai, Beijing, Chongqing, Changchun in Jilin province and Wuhan in Hubei province. More than 9,300 people have joined, about 4,000 of whom are regular trash runners.

"Environmental protection is a global concern. I've seen China's commitment and how it's part of the Five-Year Plan," Sogor said, adding that the country's determination to establish national parks is another way to protect the environment.

To make TrashRunning a good experience, as well as enjoyable and safe, the group, which has a captain and two group leaders, limits the number of runners to 25. Sogor said they might divide the growing number of applicants into two smaller groups focused on different places and routes in the near future.

"Hopefully we can be like Shanghai, which organizes six runs a week at a different location every day. And maybe one day, we could just become a running club," she said.