LITTER RESEARCH
You don’t have to wait for World Cleanup Day to help us conduct research on litter; you can do it year-round! Below, we explain why waste research is important, and how you can help.
HELP US WITH LITTER RESEARCH
Not only do you tidy up your outdoor surroundings during a cleanup, but you can also record the waste you picked up using the Litterati app on your phone. More than 4 million trash items worldwide have already been recorded and tracked this way! The information that this tracking provides makes it possible to tackle the problem of litter at its source, so that better packaging can be developed or deposits can be introduced on common waste items such as cans and bottles, for example. That is exactly why the Plastic Soup Foundation coordinates World Cleanup Day in the Netherlands.
WHY IS LITTER RESEARCH IMPORTANT?
Worldwide, at least 80% of the plastic soup in the oceans originates from land, entering the sea through rivers. Which kind of packaging is most common in the environment? Who are the producers of these items?
Much is already known about this. To be able to work on solutions that are more focused on the Netherlands, we need your help! By better mapping out litter, we can identify and confront the sources of the problem more efficiently.
HOW IT WORKS
Follow these steps to download, install and use the Litterati app and contribute to the world’s largest citizen-science research project!
- Download the Litterati app in the (Apple) App Store or (Android) Google Play.
- Log in with Facebook or sign in with your email address and create a profile.
- Click on “Challenges” at the top of the screen. Then scroll down and the challenges that you can participate in will appear. Click on the Trash Hunters challenge, or if you do not see it immediately, click on “view more” and search for it.
- Click on “Participate” and you’re ready to head out!
Would you like to see the results of the challenge in which you are participating? Go to “Challenges” at the top of your profile and click on the challenge of which you want to see results. Then click “view”. There, you can see the number of participants as well as the number waste items that have been recorded with the app so far, among other statistics.
Here, you can watch a video that explains how to set up the Litterati app.
LET’S GET STARTED!
When you use the Litterati app, you help us to collect information about where the waste was found, the type of packaging, the material, and (when visible) the brand.
- Always take pictures of the items you have picked up with the Litterati app.
- After the clean-up, upload all your photos!
- Tag all trash items (the type of packaging, the material, and the brand) and click on “Save tags”.
- Then click on “participate”
Watch the video which explains how to use the app to record the litter you findhere.
Watch out!
Just this week a new version of Litterati has been launched. Do you still have the old app on your phone, recognizable by this light blue logo? No problem, you can use it on World Cleanup Day! Click here for further instructions.
The new version has a dark blue logo. Below you can read how it works.
TAKE PART IN THE INVESTIGATION
Follow these steps to download, install and use the Litterati app and contribute to the world’s largest citizen-science research project!
- Download the Litterati app in the (Apple) App Store or (Android) Google Play.
- Log in with Facebook or sign in with your email address and create a profile.
- – If you want to join our existing challenge ‘World Cleanup Day Netherlands’, click on “Community” at the top of the screen. Then scroll down and the challenges you can take part in will appear. Click on the challenge World Cleanup Day Netherlands and click on “Participate”!
– If you want to create your own challenge, go to “Challenges” at the top and click on “Create a challenge”. Please note that this is not yet possible for Android phones. Click on “Connect with Partner’s Global Challenge” and scroll down and choose World Cleanup Day Netherlands. Click on “Connect”. This is the only way to get the results of your challenge to us and to get started!
Do you want to see the results of the challenge you are taking part in? You can see LIVE results! Go to “Challenges” at the top of your profile. Click on the challenge of which you want to see the results and then on “view”. There you can see, for example, the number of participants and the amount of waste items that have been recorded with the app so far.
You can watch the videos on the right that explain how to install and set up Litterati.
LET’S GET STARTED!
HOW TO USE LITTERATI WHEN CLEANING UP?
By using the Litterati app, we collect information about where the waste was found, the type of packaging, the material and (when visible) the brand.
- Always take a picture with the Litterati app of the items you have picked up.
- After the Clean-up, upload all your photos!
- Tag all trash items (the type of packaging, the material, and the brand) and click on “Save tags”.
- It is important that you upload the photos by 21:00 hrs on Saturday evening (21 September) and provide them with the tags. Only then will your personal results count towards the national and global sum of World Cleanup Day 2019.
Watch the video below, which explains how you can record the found waste in the app.
