Stadsjutters Breda

Reason and description of the project

Markkant Breda has been coordinating a team of volunteers who collect litter in the Breda region for many years. But cleaning up waste in the street is actually mopping with the tap open. In fact, despite all efforts, the amount of litter appears to be increasing. And that discourages.

Litter means disruption of the beauty of the landscape, nature and environment and waste of valuable raw materials, which could be recovered through separation. Litter is not equally present everywhere. It has geographic ‘hotspots’ such as sports clubs, schools, cycling routes, etc. The amount is also increasing around events in the public space, such as carnivals, festivals and sporting events.

At political and policy level, there is a lot of attention for the subject of litter. The theme of plastic in particular is high on the agenda, because it is ubiquitous, difficult to break down and seriously pollutes the environment. Nevertheless, the Municipality of Breda, like other Dutch cities, has no procedure or system to combat litter. For large parts of the city, the approach is currently limited to cleaning up certain places where there is a lot of waste, and only after it has been reported by citizens.

Address causes

The question is therefore how the causes of the creation of litter can be tackled. How can we go a step further than just treating the symptoms? With this in mind, a collaboration has arisen between initiator Markkant, the municipality of Breda and Avans Hogeschool. The project will investigate whether there are links between the amount of litter and certain locations, neighborhoods, population groups, periods, etc. But it will also map out how much litter there is now in the city and what types of materials and products there are.

If it turns out that there are links between the amounts of litter and, for example, festivals, schools or neighborhoods, we can then enter into discussions to find a good solution for the prevention of litter. The ultimate goal is to reduce the amount of litter and thus make Breda and remain a cleaner city.

Join us too!

Anyone can participate and becoming a stadsjutter (citycomber) is very simple. The more people from Breda support the initiative, the more data will be collected and the better the researchers can draw conclusions. So:

• Download the Litterati app for Ios or Android,
• Register in the app for the club “Stadsjutters Breda”,
• Go into the public space, take photos and tag the waste you collect.