LITTER RESEARCH
Worldwide, as much as 80% of plastic in the oceans, also known as the plastic soup, originates from land and finds its way into the sea through rivers. What types of packaging are mostly found in the environment? Who are the manufacturers of these items? A lot is already known about the origins of this litter, but in order to keep working on solutions that focus more specifically on the Netherlands, we need your help! By mapping litter during World litter Cleanup Day, we can identify and confront the sources of the problem more precisely.
USE THE LITTERATI-APP DURING THE CLEANUP
While cleaning up litter, it’s not just about picking up pieces of trash; with the Litterati-app, you also keep track of the litter you cleaned up on your phone. More than 3.5 million litter items have already been recorded on the app! The resulting information, such as which materials, items, and brands are most commonly found makes it possible to tackle the litter problem at the source. So that, for example, better packaging can be developed or a deposit system can be introduced for common litter items such as cans and bottles. That is the reason why the Plastic Soup Foundation is coordinating World Cleanup Day in the Netherlands.
JOIN THE CLUB
The app is very simple: it records the exact location where you found an item, what material it’s made of, and its brand (if still visible). Follow the steps below to download, install, & use the Litterati-app and support the largest citizen science study in the world!
- Download the Litterati-app in the App Store of Google Play
- Create a club OR “join the club” for World Cleanup Day
- Search for World Cleanup Day and click “Join” to join our existing World Cleanup Day club!
- Make sure you choose World Cleanup Day as an affiliate if you create your own club. The data is then sent to us and we can use it (watch the instruction video on the right)! Via “Club Statistics”, a button in the lower-left corner of your own club, you can see the total number of items, the top 5 items, and the top 5 members of your club!
Check out the instruction videos on the right that explain how you can install Litterati and how to create your own club.
LET’S GET STARTED!
HOW TO USE LITTERATI WHEN CLEANING UP?
- Take a picture of the litter item using the Litterati-app
- Tag the litter item (type of packaging, material & brand) and click ✓
- Clean up the item! Together we can map all the litter!
Watch the video above that explains how you can record the litter you found in the app.
