Event organiser Antonia Wood hosted the Plogging Earth Day Clean Up event as part of the Wild Dunedin festival on Saturday.
Originating in Sweden, the word "plogging" is a combination of jogging and picking up litter.
Mrs Wood said about 30 members of the public attended the event — which began at the Otago Yacht Club about 10.30am.
"I thought it was a really good place as you can go in any direction from there.
"From running through that area, I know there’s lots of rubbish, particularly around Forsyth Barr Stadium," she said.
Participants plogged around Otago Harbour as they collected rubbish.
They poured the litter on to a shared tarpaulin until 12.30pm.
Mrs Wood said it was a big success as about 50% of the rubbish collected was recyclable.
"We ended up with hundreds of kilos of rubbish.
"It was great."
The purpose of the event was to keep Dunedin beautiful and spread awareness of proper rubbish disposal.
"We want people to think about their actions.
"We live in this incredible place with beautiful people and wildlife all on our doorstep."
She said that the Dunedin City Council could play a role in keeping the city clean by providing more bins and encouraging proper disposal.
