ALABAMA
Mobile

ARIZONA
Phoenix

CALIFORNIA
San Bruno

COLORADO
Pikes Peak (5)

FLORIDA
Pensacola

INDIANA
Evansville
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IOWA
Des Moines (8)

LOUISIANA
Franklinton (6) • Baton Rouge
Lafayette (2) • Opelousas

MASSACHUSETTS
​Sherborn
​Melrose (2)

NEBRASKA
Chadron

NORTH CAROLINA
Columbus

MARYLAND
Baltimore

PENNSYLVANIA
York • Lancaster
Columbia • Pittsburgh

SOUTH CAROLINA
Greenville
Laurens County

TENNESSEE
Pigeon Forge (3)

WASHINGTON DC
Anacostia

WASHINGTON 
Whidbey Island

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AUSTRALIA
Perth, WA
Albany, WA
Finke (Aputula), NT
Tjupi (Papunya), NT
Melbourne, VA

ENGLAND
Bristol
​Hull

INDIA
Hyderabad
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IRELAND
Belfast
​
NIGERIA
Abuja

THE PHILIPPINES
 Cebu City

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2ft tall Litter Letter Prototype created in 2012

What is the Litter Letter Project?
PRIDE | RESPECT | HOPE | CARE | THINK | WHY?| RETHINK | CHANGE | DREAM | IMPACT | REUSE | RECYCLE | BELIEVE | INSPIRE | TRASHFREE 

MISSION : A 3D messaging system of letters constructed from chicken wire and rebar, filled with litter collected from the roads and highways. By displaying these large scale visual messages in public places the hope is to provoke response, thought and action. The Litter Letter Project is a way to begin the conversation.

WHY? : This project began as my personal response to the litter collected daily in front of my property along the highway in Louisiana. As a designer and educator with a deep love of 3D typography, I created a series of prototypes to test the idea of using the litter as the message. Following several community workshops and sharing this idea with a wider audience, this project was awarded a generous grant from Keep Louisiana Beautiful (affiliated with Keep America Beautiful). Together as a community we created 7 litter letter words that were displayed in several locations around Washington Parish, Lousiana throughout 2013. The Litter Letter Project has since been adopted by many communities and organizations across the USA in 17 states and the project now has global reach with Litter Letter installations in 6 countries across 5 continents.

OUTCOMES : The project has resulted in several positive outcomes for communities worldwide, primarily by raising environmental awareness, inspiring community engagement, and promoting dialogue on littering and recycling.

• Visual impact – The large-scale sculptures filled with trash serve as a stark, visual reminder of the scale of the litter problem in a specific location. This makes an abstract environmental issue tangible and more impactful for residents and visitors.
• Waste stream education – During the cleanups, volunteers often learn about the most common types of waste in their area, such as cigarette butts or food wrappers. In Baltimore, for example, participants learned how litter affects waterways and marine life.
• Behavioral change – Some studies have found that similar anti-litter campaigns can lead to measurable changes.
• Enhanced community engagement – Inspiring collaboration: The project is frequently a collaboration between local governments, art organizations, and environmental groups. For example, the Pikes Peak Litter Letter Project in Colorado brings together a parks department, a watershed district, and an outdoor recreation alliance to organize the annual event.
• Collective pride – The shared experience of cleaning up a public space and creating a work of art fosters a sense of collective achievement. This encourages community members to take ownership of their local environment.
• Provoking thought and action –The sculptures serve as conversation starters and a “way to begin the conversation” about a community’s litter problem.
• Encouraging dialogue – The projects encourage dialogue about better recycling and littering habits. This leads to more public discussion about the true cost of consumerism.

​Check out each page to see the collaborative Litter Letter projects created by so many people in communities working together to send messages that address our collective litter issue and promote recycling. For those interested in learning more about how this project began and how it has spread across the world please check out my TEDx talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAi0yvfPD4w&t=784s 

​The project continues to grow as more communities create their own version of this idea. Watch this space for updates and follow #litterletters @thelitterletterproject on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

For more information on the project and request permission to develop this idea in your town or city please contact me via the facebook or email link. Thanks for your interest, Rachael Hatley  

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