Proposal

The challenge in front of us is to transform the observations into accurate and actionable information for two different purposes. There is the administration of the territory and identification of priorities with regard to plastics in the environment. Then, once the priorities have been established these new indicators must be reported on. This project concerns the infrastructure and processes necessary to identify priorities and develop indicators to reduce plastics in the environment from litter density counts.

Therefore, we propose a harmonised reporting system that is administered by regional or national NGOS in collaboration with an academic partner with the stated goal of producing reliable reports for the public administration and others who communicate on such matters. This allows administrations to identify priorities and set baseline values according to agreed upon and observed indicators.

The first report proved that a relatively small team could cover a large territory with the correct technology. This remains the case. That is why we see this project, in its current iteration, specifically attractive to stakeholders with an internal data-science team. Stakeholders with experience in python or R will feel right at home in the development environment and will be the source of many improvements. For those interested in learning the basics, we are here to coach them and help them in their projects.

The proposal is thus to establish a hub that is dedicated to the collection, cleaning, aggregating and distribution of litter density data. The distribution of the data has the primary goal of producing decision support products to local administrations and other organizations charged with reducing plastics in the environment. The hub is staffed by three people and who conduct surveys, produce value added research, teach other NGOs to collect samples, and respond to requests from local administrations. Activities or changes in protocol are considered in consultation with academic advising team.

Goals

• Develop a reporting and research tool for stakeholders in the waste management, life cycle assessment and environmental monitoring sectors.

• Increase capacity of stakeholders to monitor and report observations according to the current standard in the federal report using open source tools.

• Assist in the reduction and prevention of plastics in the environment

Deliverables: four year contract

1. 800 samples

2. Revised updated federal report

3. New cantonal and municipal reports

4. Cloud service for cantonal and municipal reporting

5. Chat service for endusers to develop indi

Objectives

1. Collect 400 - 500 samples in a 12 month period

   • reduce the number of items reported as fragmented or Gfrags

     1. This value can range from 20% - 30% of the total items collected

   • include polymer identification for a subset of samples

     1. Subset should support an academic publication

     2. Subset should support a regional assessment of polymer types

   • Increase knowledge sharing between surveyors

   • Capacity building for surveyors

2. Increase the number of associations competent to collect and report data

   • Develop one association on Lac de Constance or Zurichsee

   • Develop training materials and protocols with ASL

3. Structure report specifically for cantonal and municipal reporting

   • Revise and improve the current report

   • Consider the format of the report given cantonal requirements (attached)

4. Build upon previous research and reports

   • Continue to develop modeling and parameter estimation for litter density

   • Focus on topographical features and densities

   • Consider polymer types and densities

5. Define groups of objects of interest with stakeholders

   • single use plastics

   • agricultural plastics

   • construction plastics

   • industrial plastics

6. Develop a cloud first infrastructure and chat agent

   • Move all data and software assets to Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

   • Develop machine learning and artificial intelligence pipelines for data analysis

   • Develop Automated programming interfaces (APIs) for data collection and reporting

   • Develop a user interface for data collection and reporting

   • Deploy chat agent

Benchmarks

1. Year one: Proposed updates and revisions to the federal report. Proposed model for cantonal and municipal reporting.

   • Formal research proposal for polymer identification

   • Formal research proposal for topographical features

   • Functioning prototype of cloud service

   • 100 samples collected

   • stakeholder meeting

2. Year two:

   • Assessment of software and data collection

   • Revised report with current data

   • Update on capacity building

   • End of year two:

     1. Presentation of revised report with current data

     2. Summary of capacity building

     3. 400 samples

     4. stakeholder meeting

3. Year three:

   • Presentation of feedback

   • stakeholder meeting

   • Proposed changes to app and report

   • Final report:

     1. implementation of feedback

     2. 200 samples

     3. cloud service for cantonal and municipal reporting

4. Year four:

   • Testing and implementation

   • 100 samples

Cost

Less than 1% of the estimated cost to prevent and remove litter annualy in Switzerland. BAFU/OFEV - litter costs

Interested ?

Interested administrations or other potential financial partners should contact roger at hammerdirt.