Abstract: The initial idea for creating SPOTTERON was born already back in 2013 when on a hike, we stumbled upon a pile of garbage in an otherwise untouched forest - and well - one thought came instantly to my mind: "there should be an app for reporting that now" - a thought which lead directly to the development of a modular system for geo-location related Citizen Science projects.
After launching various international Apps like Roadkill or Crowdwater, we are now just weeks away from releasing CleanNature, a project by SPOTTERON and the NGO Global2000, addressing Littering and its impact on our environment. The topic itself has a strong narrative: Wildlife dies by eating plastic parts, water resources get toxic, and our waste products simply break down into smaller pieces in time and almost never go away. This affects us all, for example, groundwater contamination, microplastic particles in our food, and other serious long-term consequences.
In general, by putting an issue in the spotlight, it can no longer be ignored. Littering is a ground-up problem, there is no single cause, but everybody is contributing to it in a way.