Crowdsourcing app rewards users for reporting illegal dumps

TrashOut, the free mobile app, not only gives users a way to report illegal dumps, but it also rewards them with badges for the steps they take toward getting those dumps cleaned up.

Illegal dumping is a scourge that does untold environmental harm, yet a lack of data has long made the magnitude of the problem difficult to estimate. That’s where TrashOut comes in. The free mobile app not only gives users a way to report illegal dumps, but it also rewards them with badges for the steps they take toward getting those dumps cleaned up. The brainchild of a Slovakian company by the same name, TrashOut is now available as a free app for both Android and iOS. Once users download it, they can use the TrashOut app to report any illegal dump they find, including a photo and any comments. That report will then appear on TrashOut’s online TrashMap. If the dump hadn’t yet been reported, users are rewarded with a reporting badge; if it had, they get a different badge for confirming it. Either way, users can then contact local authorities to get the dump cleaned up, or they can organize a clean-up themselves, earning the app’s most prestigious badge of all. The video below explains the premise in more detail: Mobile technologies are equipping consumers to participate in environmental stewardship as never before. App-minded entrepreneurs: be inspired! Spotted by: Murtaza Patel