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.

Source

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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Brian Yurasits