THE LITTERBUG APP BY GLOBAL 2000

Sektionen Edelweiss und Gebirgsverein vom Österreichischen Alpenverein.
Current collaboration partner: Institut für Ökologie der Universität Innsbruck.

Plastics are everywhere in our daily lives and are part of important usages, for example in the medical sector. The problem arises when the plastic quickly loses its original function, for example as a coffee-to-go cup. In just a few minutes, garbage was created from a single cup, which functioned only a short time as packaging. To enjoy and appreciate the nature around us we all need to gain more awareness in how to deal with and dispose of waste.

The PlasticAlps projectexternal link, opens in a new tab hosted by the University of Innsbruck at the Institute of Ecology (funded by the Austrian Exchange Service), aims to further strengthen this awareness together with the Austrian Alpine Club and nature lovers. In the high mountains, children will explore sensitive high-alpine habitats and investigate the impact of plastic pollution for a glacier ecosystem. 

Since the project PlasticAlps focuses on plastic pollution in high alpine areas, the collaboration of the Litterbug App and PlasticAlps project enables the scientific investigation of the littering problem in the supposedly untouched high mountain ecosystems. 

The extent of plastic pollution in such high mountain ecosystems and its consequences are still mostly unknown. The cooperation of the LitterBug App and PlasticAlps will try to answer these questions. If you are on a hike in the mountains and come across litter, you can become active as a citizen scientist, collecting and documenting it via the Litterbug App. 

The challenge

Every year more than 29 million tons of plastic waste are produced in Europe (including Norway and Switzerland) alone. A substantial proportion of this becomes litter and ends up  in our forests, rivers and oceans. A plastic bottle takes about 450 years to decompose. This is a threat to nature, animals and humans. Therefore, the reduction of plastic waste concerns us all!

Our goals

Our aim is not only to make our nature a little cleaner, but also to ensure that it stays that way in the long term. With the app, citizen scientists can help collect data to help develop future solutions for the littering problem. The app thus has three objectives: Data for solutions, Creating Awareness, Cleaning Nature.