The Litter Less Campaign educates children and youth around the world on the issue of litter and gives them the opportunity to engage their local communities in awareness-raising activities.

The Litter Less Campaign (LLC) is a joint project between Mars Wrigley Foundation and Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE). Running for 11 consecutive years (Phase I, II, III and IV) all around the globe, it underlines tangibly the importance of dealing with the issue of litter and waste.

The efficient efforts of participating schools and National Operators and the campaign’s continued development ensuring relevance and engagement, are major contributing factors to the LLC success.

The campaign is very popular and since its implementation in 2011, more than 4,6 million students for 35 countries participated. Through continuous evaluation, the improvement in students’ knowledge and behaviour change regarding litter and waste management as well as their vivid interest and eagerness to learn have been documented.

MAIN OBJECTIVES

• To reduce the litter and waste footprint of communities by strengthening students’ litter and waste literacy  

• To increase student knowledge and practical skills in preventing and managing litter and waste, thereby promoting the Circular economy concept and fostering long-term behaviour change.  

• To promote and improve the schools’/and/or nearby surroundings waste management. 

• To educate youth as opinion leaders and active citizens so they can find solutions to litter and waste issues and disseminate them through social media and other channels. 

• To collaborate with other schools nationally or internationally to disseminate good examples, encourage to take action and increase the positive impact   

How does it work?

Litter is a great theme to start working on environmental issues with students. It is visible and it is easy to see improvements. Through the YRE programme, students in the campaign investigate local litter issues, for example the effect of litter on local wildlife or human health, the packaging most often discarded by people, etc. The students then create journalistic pieces in the form of articles, photo reportages, or video clips. The production must include suggestions for solutions on minimising litter.

YRE students share their investigations by posting their articles, photographs and videos through the YRE network. Students are also encouraged to disseminate their work in other ways, for example via print, broadcast or social media.

Furthermore, participants will organise action days and develop action plans to tackle local waste problems.