Can Instagram Clean The Planet?

Since their initial launch in 2010, Instagram has grown into one of the largest social communities with over 200 million active users who post 60 million photos a day on average. This mass community leverages this photo-sharing tool to showcase their filtered(or unfiltered) works of art to the masses. Marketers are already turning towards Instagram to create rich content that will engage their customers, but what if we started using social media and Instagram for social good? Better yet, what if one company used Instagram to help crowd-clean the planet?

A once far-fetched idea of cleaning the planet with the help of social media has now become a possible reality for Litterati, founded by friend Jeff Kirschner. Litterati is a community and a company that leverages Instagram to clean the planet one piece of litter at a time.

So how does it work? The process is actually quite simple. Users of the community who come across a piece of litter take action by snapping a photo of their trashy find, posting it to Instagram with the hashtag #Litterati, and throwing away (or recycling) the piece of litter. By collecting data along the way thanks to geo-tagging, the Litterati collective are contributing to the world’s database of litter, which they call a ‘Digital Landfill’.

This information is highly valuable to see where litter is concentrated which showcases where trashcans and recycle bins should be strategically placed. It also identifies the most common brands and products that geneate the most litter. Ultimately, by placing waste bins in the right places means less litter on the streets and a convo starter with brands to find environmentally friendly and sustainable solutions.

I had the opportunity to meet Jeff back in late 2012 when he presented at Miami Ad School in San Francisco. At the time Litterati was a couple months old, but they have maintained the same vision today: ‘To create a litter free planet.’ Since then Litterati has recorded some amazing accolades:

- Participants from 49 countries

- 70,000+ pieces of litter documented

- Conducted a litter study with the city of San Francisco

- Featured in USA Today, Time Magazine, National Geographic, Fast Company, Upworthy, GOOD, the San Francisco Chronicle, and Instagram Blog etc.

- An art exhibit “Litterati: Using Technology to Clean the Planet” has been on display at Recology, the EPA, NAAEE conference and more

- And plans of launching school programs with San Francisco & Alameda County

The best part is that this is only the beginning for Litterati and you too can join this social good movement with social media. Their social channels are very witty and also engaging. Did I mention they even have a ‘Friday caption contest’ on their Facebook page? Cleaning the world’s litter sounds very daunting, but as a collective we can all do our small part against one of the worlds most pressing issues. Litterati makes cleaning the planet cool again, so be sure to visit their website and Instagram to learn more.

Can Instagram Clean The Planet?