As efforts to protect the planet grow, innovative solutions emerge in unexpected ways. Litterati, a global initiative founded by Jeff Kirschner, uses technology and community engagement to combat littering. This article explores what Litterati is, how it works, and key success stories.
What is Litterati?
Litterati is a mobile app where photos of litter are ego-tagged, time-stamped, #hashtagged, and uploaded to a digital landfill. By prompting individuals to photograph and tag litter using a mobile app, Litterati generates a detailed, data-driven map of pollution. This approach raises awareness while empowering communities to develop targeted strategies for a cleaner, more sustainable environment.
Watch the 6-minute video below to hear from Jeff Kirschner, founder of Litterati, on why he created the app.
Litterati in action
Litterati is more than a mobile photo app. It’s a clever way to increase our collective consciousness of consumption footprints, contributing to the global efforts of cleaning up the world. It harnesses a shared desire to do good and uses fun social technology to empower people to do more good.
Every snapshot of litter adds up to the growing digital landfill, providing insightful big pictures of our trash problems around the world. To date, Litterati has mapped and picked up 250,000-plus garbage pieces in 100-plus countries while adding about 5,000 more pieces each week.
Data collected through this crowdsourcing initiative is forming clear evidence to help decision-makers around the world tackle our trash problems.
Success stories
01. San Francisco vs. cigarette companies
The City of San Francisco leveraged Litterati to implement a 20-cent ‘litter butt tax’ on cigarette companies.
Our data was used in court to not only defend but double the tax, generating an annual recurring revenues of four million dollars for San Francisco to clean itself up.
02. Young activists
A group of 5th graders picked up 1,247 pieces of litter in their school yard. They discovered the most common litter item was straw packages from the school’s cafeteria.
These kids went to their principal and asked ‘why are we still buying straws?’ and they stopped. They learned that individually, they could each make a difference, but together they created an impact.
Looking ahead
Imagine what decision-makers will be able to do with insight from this kind of data: from being more strategic about where to place trash cans, holding brands accountable to their product-leave-behinds, to beautifying entire urban landscapes. Billions of smartphone users can contribute to the global efforts of sustaining the globe’s health. Innovations like Litterati encourage us to rethink our impact, turning small, everyday actions into powerful forces for change.
