LitterBack - scooping up litter and changing behaviours

As part of the ReefClean project, BWA worked with the Tangaroa Blue Foundation to design and trial a litter awareness intervention where visitors to tropical islands can collect some of the litter they find along the way. It’s called LitterBack. Dunk Island has signed on to help test its effectiveness.

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What is LitterBack?

When tourists arrive on the island, they will see a large colourful turtle called Timmy.  This is where they can collect their LitterBack scoops; pocket-sized pouches for collecting litter that washes up on the beaches.

Much of this litter is the broken down remains of plastic bottles, containers, buoys, nets, fishing lines and ropes and other equipment that entered our oceans and  washed up on our shores.  This is happening worldwide, as waste moves around the seas on currents and winds, arrives on different shores, and is often washed away again.  

Changing holiday behaviours

There are a few reasons why this program stands a good chance of success for incoming tourists.  The litter itself is clean, in that it’s been ocean washed and sun dried, so it’s not grimy or offensive to pick up (and the LitterBack scoops make it easy).  Also, you’re picking up random litter that could have come from anywhere, a fishing boat, an international cruiseliner, or even from a country far, far away. In that sense, you’re not cleaning up after the people in the tent next to you, you’re helping to fix an international problem.  

The small size of the LitterBack pouches also means you’re not carrying something heavy that would impact your enjoyment of the island environment.  It’s normalising clean up behaviour, so that tourists not only ‘leave no trace’ of their visit, they actively beautify the island as they enjoy its surroundings.  

And finally, when these scoops are returned to Timmy the Turtle, and the collected litter is binned, it becomes data – visitors are encouraged to photograph the litter they find and send these images to Tangaroa Blue, helping to map where litter is arriving on the island which, in turn, helps prioritise where cleans ups should occur.  So tourists are also citizen scientists.

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Every little bit helps

This change to the way tourists visit and explore the island (from walking past litter to picking it up), also changes the way they see their visit; not just spending time in a stunning tropical environment, but actively improving it as they go.  

We look forward to seeing the results of this trial and the positive behaviour change it encourages.