- A new Cardano project has made it possible for people to take geotagged photos of trash in an area, label, and dispose of them to earn Littercoin.
- This project is expected to reduce the longstanding littering problem by getting people involved while introducing them to the positive side of cryptocurrency.
Littering is a modern-day problem that was not an issue until the 1950s when manufacturers started producing littering-creating materials, including disposable products and packaging manufactured from materials like plastic. For the past couple of decades, 8 million tons of waste have been finding their way into the oceans annually.
Research published by Keep America Beautiful establishes that the most commonly littered items are cigarette butts, food wrappers, plastic bottles, disposable cups, grocery bags, straws, beverage cans, and vehicle debris. The adverse effects on the environment are huge as 60% of water pollution is caused by litter. Additionally, 40% of litter is burned in the open air which releases toxic substances into the atmosphere.
One of the leading causes of pollution is poverty. One of the greatest accelerators of poverty is poor economic policy. #bitcoin is not perfect but it helps people protect against unprecedented currency printing and #ethereum can incentivise cleanups #cryptoforgood #littercoin
— #LitterLulz 💀👻🎃 (@littercoin) May 2, 2021
The effects are dire, and in most cases, deadly. For instance, a million animals die annually from ingesting or being entrapped as a result of improper disposal of waste.
Despite the individual and the organizational effort to stem out or even reverse the pollution that comes from litter, there is a serious lack of data, commitment, resources, and even more importantly incentive to do this. Littercoin, a project built on Cardano is set to change the story.
Gather data and earn Littercoin
To eliminate littering and make the world better while getting involved in crypto, a Cardano project has made it possible for people to take geotagged photos of trash in an area, label, and dispose of them to earn Littercoin. Sean Lynch, the creator of OpenLitterMap (OLM) masterminded the whole scheme, taking a cue from the principle of crowdsourcing as well as open data to finding a solution.
Through the introduction of the concept of proof of work to the production of Geographic Information, people can be earning Littercoin as they get involved in gathering data of the location of the world’s litter. This will onboard people into the Cardano network while getting them involved in citizen science. The project will not only cater to the challenge of littering, it will also onboard more people into crypto in a risk-free way. It will take away the complexity that comes with crypto, allowing the participation of people who do not know anything about blockchain technology.
The long-term plan is to put Littercoin miners in touch with innovative zero-waste and circular economic startups, as well as local businesses.
Seeking to raise $50,000
Littercoin is seeking to raise funding to the tune of $50,000 for the crypto-oriented litter collection project.
First, a web developer would be needed to improve the web app at OpenLitterMap.com. $4000 a month will be given to the developer to fix bugs and add new features. The three-month service will be $12,000. Also, mobile developers will be needed to upgrade the native app on android and IOS. This includes gamification and real-time object detection to improve the data collection experience. For three months of service, $4000 will be paid a month, making $12,000 for the period.
Computer vision experts will be hired for three months with a monthly salary of $4000, making the total $12,000 for the entire period. Smart contract engineers will also be needed to migrate Littercoin from Ethereum to Cardano. The developer will be given $1000 to $2000 a month over a one or two months period. A graphic designer will be given $2000 a month over a two-month period to improve their branding while $2000 will be allocated to project management and $5000 to overheads or miscellaneous.
Lynch believes that this project will change the bad reputation cryptocurrencies have had for years.
Cryptocurrencies have a bad reputation as being bad for the environment. But what if they could incentivize the most rapid production of global data and cleanup events the world has ever seen?
“Cryptocurrencies have a bad reputation as being bad for the environment. But what if they could incentivise the most rapid production of global data and cleanup events the world has ever seen?” https://t.co/VaFtUqJVep
— #CleanThePlanet (@OpenLitterMap) May 10, 2021
This project is expected to reduce the longstanding littering problem by getting people involved while introducing them to the positive side of cryptocurrency.
