Spring 2027 · registration open
Spogomi League Halifax.
Litter picking as a sport. Three to a team, one marked area, one clock, and points by the weight of what you pick. Halifax has never had a league. It does now, and the first team is called the Icky Pickers.
How a match goes
- 1
Briefing
Rules, safety, and the area map, which is announced on the day. Three minutes of strategy time. Gloves, bags and tongs are handed out.
- 2
Collection, 60 minutes
Pick as much litter as you can inside the area. Walk, never run. Back across the line as a team before time is up.
- 3
Sorting, 20 minutes
Sort everything into the scoring categories. Empty bottles and cans. Mis-sorted items cost points.
- 4
Weigh-in and results
Judges weigh each category and read out the scores. Awards, then the haul goes to the city for disposal.
What Spogomi is
Spogomi is litter picking as a sport. Teams have a set time to collect as much litter as they can inside a marked area, then sort it by category. Points come from the weight of each category, with cigarette butts worth the most. It started in Japan in 2008 and has had a World Cup since 2023.
Created in Japan in 2008 by Kenichi Mamitsuka and the Social Sports Initiative, now the Nippon Foundation SPOGOMI Federation. The first World Cup was held in Tokyo in 2023 with 21 countries, the second in 2025. Canada has been there both times: eighth in 2023, and fourth in 2025 with a team from Scarborough. The next World Cup is in Japan in October 2027, with overseas qualifiers from late 2026.
Why a league here
Every Icky Picker already does this on their own walks. A league puts a clock on it, a scoreboard, a trophy, and a reason for twelve more people to carry a grabber. Matches run on Halifax streets, parks and shoreline, one neighbourhood at a time, and every kilogram is logged at World Litter Run.
The goal for Spring 2027: six teams, three matches, and a Halifax champion. The goal after that: a Nova Scotia team at the Canadian qualifier, and Canada back at the World Cup in Japan in October 2027.
The federation asks that local events run with it rather than only borrow the name, and Canada’s national stage is run by SpoGomi Canada in the Toronto area. We are writing to both to bring an affiliated round to Nova Scotia. Until that is settled, Spogomi League Halifax plays by these rules as a local league, and the road to the World Cup runs through the Canadian qualifier.
The rules we play by
These follow the Nippon Foundation SPOGOMI Federation’s standard rules and the World Cup qualifier format. Read them once; you will be asked to confirm you have.
Teams
Three players per team, the World Cup format. Up to two alternates can be registered and can replace a player before a match, never during one. No age limit; children of elementary age or younger play with an adult on the team.
Conduct
- Walk at all times: one foot on the ground. Fast walking is fine, running is a penalty, and any other way of moving is disqualification.
- Stay inside the marked area, and keep the front and back of your team within 10 metres of each other.
- No-go zones: water of any kind (ditches, rivers, the harbour, the shoreline), road medians, leaning into traffic, private property and residents-only car parks, drain and gutter covers, and in front of or behind an occupied parked car.
- Not litter: anything in or beside a bin, anything that looks owned, bulky items longer than about 50 cm, rubble, and natural debris like leaves and driftwood.
- Hazardous items (needles, unknown liquids, oil containers) stay where they are. Flag them to a marshal.
- Back at base, as a whole team, before the clock runs out. Late is a penalty per minute; more than ten minutes late is disqualification.
- Penalties are 100 points each. A fourth penalty disqualifies the team. Padding the bag with water, sand or bin contents disqualifies on the spot.
- Be kind to the neighbourhood. You are a guest on its sidewalks.
Scoring
| Burnable (paper, wrappers, food packaging) | 10 points per 100 g |
| Non-burnable (plastics, metal scraps) | 5 points per 100 g |
| Glass bottles | 5 points per 100 g |
| Aluminium cans | 15 points per 100 g |
| Plastic bottles | 25 points per 100 g |
| Cigarette butts | 50 points per 100 g |
This is the table used at the 2025 Spogomi World Cup Final. The federation lets each event set its own values, and they have changed between editions, so we publish ours before every match. The whole weight counts, including anything under 100 g. House rule for ties, since the official rules do not name one: the team with the greater weight of cigarette butts wins.
Bring
- Gloves, bags and tongs are supplied; at affiliated stages only the supplied kit may be used
- Closed shoes and a bib (we provide)
- Weather for Halifax: layers, a hat, rain gear. Light rain, we play; a storm, we call it by the morning of
- Water and a towel
- The Icky Pickers wear forest green and blaze orange
Take a spot
Join the Icky Pickers, the home team, while there are spots. Or name your own team: a street, a workplace, a daycare, a running club. The first person to register a team is its captain.
Teams are 3 players with up to 2 alternates. Kids are welcome on a team with an adult. Registration is free; the kit is optional.
The kit is how the Icky Pickers will be dressed on match day.