How to Modify an In-Person Cleanup to a Remote Cleanup Event

With COVID-19, many in person events had to be modified, postponed, or cancelled. But with Litterati you can continue to host distributed cleanup events through the Litterati app and dashboard. When transitioning your event from in-person to virtual, there are important differences that should be kept in mind as you plan your event.

Cleanup Supplies
1. In Person Event: Litter cleanup tools and materials are pre-purchased and distributed at the event by event organizers.
2. Virtual Cleanup: Recommend tools to participants on an email or event page or provide tools for participants that they can pick up at a designated location and drop off when they're done with their cleanup (as described in this article: Identify tools for optimal participation.)
Cleanup Location
1. In Person Event: Cleanup occurs at a specific, pre-identified location over a clearly defined period of time.
2. Virtual Cleanup: Instead, encourage participants to identify a location (if not preselected by organizer) and let them cleanup on their schedule, whenever it is convenient for them to participate.
Cleanup Impact
1. In Person Event: Larger scale group cleanups allow participants to clearly observe their direct impact on the location.
2. Virtual Cleanup: Share data from Litterati's dashboard with your participants after the cleanup! Have volunteers photograph themselves cleaning up and post that to your organization's event page or social media accounts.
Cleanup Event Atmosphere
1. In Person Event: Single-site, one-day cleanups allow socializing and can offer activities such as food trucks, live music, bounce houses, and more.
2. Virtual Cleanup: Rather than try to replicate in-person experiences, highlight benefits of distributed events and create socializing opportunities:
  1. Suggest that participants form household teams or two-person teams (with mask usage) and share online videos demonstrating team litter picking strategies.
  2. Suggest participants create a personal litter picking playlist on their smartphones and have them share it with everyone on social media.
  3. Pair up participants (ie. Virtual Litterpicking Buddies) and encourage them to swap litter picking strategies, plans, app experiences, and photos of progress with each other.
  4. Share ideas for how participants can explain their activities to non-participating passerby like with event fun t-shirts or stickers.
  5. Utilize virtual meetings either before or after clean-ups to foster the same socialization aspect in person. This can be used to plan pre-cleanup or debrief post-cleanup.