Log the ‘brand’ of litter
Knowing where plastic originates helps plastic producers adopt better practices, provides data for campaigners’ lobbying and supports those who pick waste for a living to sort, recycle and reuse. With the Wastebase app, scan a product to see what it's made from, and share where it was found.
In 2020, Break Free From Plastic volunteers collected 346,494 pieces of plastic waste, 63% was a consumer brand.
Benefits
- Data is open source, so can be used by anyone to influence change or inform their own datasets
- Makes it easy for communities to carry out brand audits and track litter in their area
- Allows waste pickers to sort higher value waste more quickly for more efficient recycling
Challenges
- Scanning waste in dirty environments such as unofficial waste sites can be difficult
- Funding for initial data input to build up product database is challenging
- Requires a smartphone to use
- Only currently available through Google Play
Making A Difference
By May 2022, Wastebase had 493 brands that had been logged by users as found as waste.
There are hundreds of other ways to solve plastic pollution
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