Litterati
Litterati is an online project in which users (mostly private individuals) collect and correctly dispose of rubbish lying around on the street and in nature, and document the whole thing via a mobile phone app. Litterati was founded by the American Jeff Kirschner with the aim of combating the worldwide problem of carelessly thrown waste.
In 2012, the movement began on Instagram , in which Kirschner photographed a cigarette butt and published it on Instagram in combination with the hashtag Litterati (#Litterati). Kirschner noticed that his #Litterati was being used by more people and came up with the idea of developing a special app for it. The first version of the app was released on August 16, 2015.
Litterati's job is to identify problem areas that have a lot of waste and what types and brands of waste are most common. Litterati would like to use the collected data in collaboration with companies and organizations to find more sustainable solutions.
application
Users can use the free app on their mobile phone to, for example, collect rubbish during a hike and at the same time document it with photographs. A geotag is linked directly to the photo using the GPS in the phone. The user can then associate keywords with the photo with a hashtag (#). The keywords usually relate to the material the waste is made from, the brand name that can be found on the waste and the purpose for which the waste was used (e.g. "packaging", "bottle") ).
Effects
Since the app was launched, more than 5 million pieces of waste (as of February 2020) have been photographed, marked and collected worldwide. It took about 2 years and 4 months until the one millionth piece of waste was registered with Litterati on January 3, 2018. The milestone of 2 million units was reached just eight months later on October 15, 2018. The table provides an overview of the top 10 countries in which the app is used most frequently (as of April 20, 2019). It is noticeable that the Netherlands is most active with this app. The Netherlands is the first country to use Litterati to clean up 1 million pieces of trash and record it in Litterati.
| countries | Disposed waste |
|---|---|
| Netherlands | 1,000,790 |
| United States | 895.038 |
| United Kingdom | 212.130 |
| Australia | 197,700 |
| Austria | 83,288 |
| Germany | 53,859 |
| Spain | 46,460 |
| New Zealand | 40,561 |
| Canada | 39,966 |
| France | 38,742 |
financing
The Litterati app was originally funded through Kickstarter, which raised $ 50,000. In late 2017, the founder received an additional $ 225,000 from the American National Science Foundation . Behind Litterati are two full-time employees and a few volunteers who take care of the design.
Web links
- Official website
- Ted Talk by Jeff Kirschner
- Facebook group
- Spencer Ave. students' Litterati campaign puts town on the map
supporting documents
- ^ Jacopo Prisco, CNN: The app that makes it fun to pick up litter. Retrieved January 13, 2018 .
- ↑ Becky Streep, Care2: Litterati: Fighting Litter with… Instagram? Retrieved January 16, 2018 .
- ^ ITunes: Litterati App. Retrieved January 13, 2018 .
- ↑ Anna Evans: Litterati app to help understand western Victorian litter practices. The Courier, August 1, 2017, accessed January 13, 2018 .
- ^ Litterati website. Retrieved January 13, 2018 .
- ^ Change Agents: Jeff Kirschner's litter-less world. USA TODAY, accessed January 13, 2018 .
- ^ Litterati website. Accessed November 20, 2018 .
- ↑ Kickstarter: Litterati - A Mobile App to Track & Reduce Litter. Retrieved January 16, 2018 .
- ↑ An app that tries to make picking up trash fun just got a $ 225,000 cash injection from the US government. Business Insider, accessed January 13, 2018 .