Words by Smiley Team
A new mobile app is encouraging passers-by to pick up litter and dispose of it, by entering them into a prize draw for cash.
Designed by a British app developer and trialled in Denmark, it’s part of a trend of gamification, which is being used as a way to inspire communities to create greener habits.
LitterLotto is all about getting a tidier, cleaner environment, with less harm to wildlife, less waste reaching our oceans, and more recycling.
(Read more about this seven-year-old eco warrior who is a litter picking hero)
Users of the Litterloo app pick up litter and put it into a rubbish bin, taking a photo of themselves doing so. It’s recommended that you use gloves or hand sanitiser when collecting others’ litter.
Then, they upload this photo to the app, which makes them eligible for smaller spot prizes, and provides them with an entry into a monthly prize draw.
You’re never far from an empty crisp packet, chocolate bar wrapper, plastic bottle or any other packaging that’s been discarded. But don’t see it as litter – instead it’s more entries into LitterLotto.
To make sure the system isn’t taken advantage of, there are rules and regulations surrounding the litter lottery.
For example, each entry must include a piece of non-organic litter, such as packaging, bottles and cigarette butts. Litter from goods that are designed to be consumed at home, such as food cans, are not considered eligible.
The photo needs to show your hand, the product being binned and the mouth of the rubbish bin you’re posting into, in order for you to be in with a chance to win.
(Read more about how the amount of beach litter is going down each year)
The prize amount - which is provided by Litterlotto’s corporate sponsors - varies depending on the location, but currently the UK’s monthly jackpot is £10,000, and spot prizes vary from £5 to £250.
Louise Sunderland was recently announced as the proud winner of the UK’s first Litterlotto. After picking up around 400 littered items, she received a jackpot prize of £5000.
There are more than four trillion pieces of litter dropped a year and they’re full of plastics and toxins, which end up getting washed away into our oceans.
You can download the LitterLotto app now to win prizes just by throwing away litter in the bin.
