Trash-Smart Technology
The Litter Intelligence project, spearheaded by Sustainable Coastlines in New Zealand, aims to tackle the issue of litter pollution by establishing a national litter database. This citizen science initiative encourages community members, schools, and various groups to regularly conduct standardized litter surveys, contributing to a better understanding of litter sources and trends.
The project follows the United Nations Environment Programme's marine debris survey methodology, ensuring high scientific rigor in data collection. Volunteers identify, count, and record types of litter found in designated sites, and the collected data is uploaded to a freely accessible national database. This ongoing monitoring provides evidence-based insights to inform litter reduction policies, community education, and cleanup activities.
The Litter Intelligence project is funded by the Ministry for the Environment's Waste Minimisation Fund. The initiative offers workshops on litter collection and a litter education curriculum for schools, empowering learners to form and develop an inquiry to investigate aspects of marine litter pollution. The workshops cover data collection methodology, health and safety planning, and reporting requirements.
A phone app has been developed for entering litter data into the national database. The app includes categories for different types of litter, making it easy for volunteers to record their findings accurately. The app also houses a solutions database and some litter data visualisation tools, helping decision-makers and the public to better understand the scope of the problem and the progress being made.
The original citizens of New Zealand, tangata whenua, are considered the original Citizen Scientists, possessing traditional knowledge about maintaining litter-free coastlines. The Sustainable Coastlines citizen science workshops provide training and tools for community groups and organisations to participate in the project.
The Litter Intelligence project will conduct beach litter surveys at a minimum of 108 beach sites across Aotearoa, with surveys being conducted at least four times each year for three years, starting in 2018. The data collected can be used for national, regional, and international reporting, including progress against UN Sustainable Development Goals.
By empowering citizens to contribute to environmental stewardship and generating scientifically useful data, the Litter Intelligence project is driving action against litter pollution in New Zealand. The project is a collaboration between Sustainable Coastlines, the Ministry for the Environment, Statistics New Zealand, and the Department of Conservation. Together, they are working towards a cleaner, healthier environment for all New Zealanders.
The Litter Intelligence project, collaborating with ministries and organizations, not only empowers its volunteers through workshops in education and self-development, but also offers a curriculum for schools that encourages students to delve deeper into environmental-science aspects of marine litter pollution. This project, acclaimed for its scientific rigor in data collection, uses a smartphone app to gather information on litter types from designated sites, allowing for easy categorization and accurate recording in the national database.
