Starfinancer

The “Littering” that is the abandonment in public spaces of small waste such as bottles, caps, plastic bags, receipts, etc., even if considered a completely negligible gesture, causes very serious environmental damage. Based on the data provided by the United Nations Environment Program (Unep)every year over 4.5 trillion cigarette butts are thrown on the ground worldwide, 14 billion of which only in Italy, which, mistaken for food, are ingested by birds, pitches, turtles, etc. often causing death by poisoning or suffocation.

The campaign is to raise awareness of citizens and local administrations on “littering” “Small gestures, great crimes”promoted by Marevivo in collaboration with Bat Italy and with the patronage of Ministry of Ecological Transition. The project, destined to arrive as well as in Italy also in Greece, Portugal And Spainprovides for a whole series of local mobilization initiatives which, after the recent Trieste experience, will involve Salerno (June 24-July 1), Pescara (July 22-28) e Viareggio (August 26-September 1). For the occasion, in addition to a strong visual installation, some volunteers will distribute pocket and reusable ashtrays made of recycled plastic while offering educational and cleaning activities on the beach. The initiative, in addition to being relaunched offline and online through billboards and digital campaigns respectively, provides for interaction with the “Marina” artificial intelligence system thanks to which people will be able to learn more about the phenomenon and how to counter it.

On the front of the monitoring and of prevention two Italian start-ups were also involved. In particular, JustOnEarth uses sophisticated satellite monitoring technology of the environment which, thanks to artificial intelligence, interprets the images provided by the project’s satellites “Copernicus” ofEuropean space agencywith an accuracy level of 98.3%. Rachaelin turn, it re-elaborates this information making it easily usable through interactive data visualization systems.

Thanks to the combination of these technologies, everyone will be able to contribute to the prevention and management of the problem of “littering”. On the one hand, the citizens of the municipalities involved will be able to access, via device, the dedicated platform www.piccoligesti.eu which will contain a “Digital open data map” of your city where you can report the presence of butts and small waste. On the other hand, local administrations will have access to information from satellite monitoring and citizens’ reports to optimize the planning of street cleaning services.