Sustainable Coastlines is delivering a project to create grassroots solutions to litter in Aotearoa.

As part of this project, they are offering free training workshops for individuals and groups who would like to take part in ongoing litter data collection on their local coastline. The workshop will pass on the skills in surveying, data collection, and health and safety that will allow you to play an important part in this long-term effort.

This citizen science project will allow you to contribute data to New Zealand’s first national beach litter database, meaning that the information collected reaches those that need it for decision-making.

In terms of the level of commitment required from your group, the project is ongoing and ideally each of the monitoring sites will be surveyed a minimum of 4 times per year, for at least the next 3 years. Sustainable Coastlines is setting up 108 sites like these around Aotearoa and this long-term data will play a critical role in proving the litter problem and helping to prioritise solutions.

Workshop details

There are a range of workshops pland and Sustainable Coastlines will also try to arrange a workshop specifically for your group. Just let them know the date and time that suits best within the dates in your region.

Timing: 3-4 hours long.

Location(s): Sustainable Coastlines will run a 2-hour workshop session at a nearby indoor space of your choosing, e.g. surf club, community centre, marae etc., followed by a litter survey at a local beach/coast that you would like to collect data from on an ongoing basis. This will be your monitoring site. Sustainable Coastlines will assist you with your monitoring site selection.

Capacity: 3-10 citizen scientists, it is highly recommended that a minimum of 3 people from your organisation/community group attend so that leadership and knowledge can be spread.

For workshop locations, dates and further information and to book a workshop, please visit: http://sustainablecoastlines.org/event/citizen-science-workshops/

The plan is to set-up at least 108 long-term monitoring sites all around Aotearoa, so there will be plenty of opportunities to get involved.

Related content

The article Oceans of rubbish has information and links to student activities.

The Litterati citizen science project asks for people to photograph, geotag and classify litter.

Useful link

Read the New Zealand Herald article How AI and tidy Kiwis are cleaning up our beaches. It explains how Sustainable Coastlines is linking up with tech firm Enlighten Designs and Microsoft New Zealand.

See all events