​Litter Letters have
been created in the
following locations:

ALABAMA
Mobile

ARIZONA
Phoenix

CALIFORNIA
San Bruno

COLORADO
Pikes Peak (5)

FLORIDA
Pensacola

INDIANA
Evansville
​
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

TENNESSEE
Pigeon Forge (3)

WASHINGTON DC
Anacostia

WASHINGTON 
Whidbey Island

*************************

AUSTRALIA
Perth, WA
Albany, WA
Finke (Aputula), NT

ENGLAND
Bristol
​Hull

INDIA
Mansoorabad Pedda Cheruvu

IRELAND
Belfast
​
NIGERIA
Abuja

THE PHILIPPINES
 Cebu City

*************************

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 

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.

This project began as a 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, LOUISIANA throughout 2013. Since then The Litter Letter Project has been adopted by many communities and organizations across the USA and the world. 

2014 | Keep Sevier Beautiful in PIGEON FORGE, TENNESSEE created their own version as part of their litter awareness month. Keep Phoenix Beautiful incorporated The Litter Letter Project into the day of action for day 3 of the Clinton Global Initiative University conference. Colorful letters filled with recycled materials were created for the PHXRENEWS site in downtown PHOENIX, ARIZONA. 6th Avenue Corridor/Keep Iowa Beautiful created the words THINK, HOPE and CARE in DES MOINES, IOWA and The Cultural Alliance of York County partnered with the community of YORK PENNSYLVANIA to create an amazing CHANGE. In the fall of 2014, LAFAYETTE, LOUISIANA created the tallest Litter Letters to date. Standing at 8 feet tall #YARDWORK was part of the parish wide Project Frontyard initiative.  

2015 | Keep West Baton Rouge Beautiful became the 3rd region in Louisiana to create Litter Letters displaying WHY? in the state capital of BATON ROUGE. Keep Sevier Beautiful debuted their second word of THINK recently in PIGEON FORGE, TN and Keep Iowa Beautiful created the word DREAM making this the 4th Litter Letter installation in DES MOINES. A second region in Pennsylvania created the word PRIDE in downtown COLUMBIA. LANCASTER became the third region in PA to create Litter Letters debuting their RETHINK letters in October 2015. 

2016 | Keep Sevier Beautiful continued their Litter Letter Projects debuting their 3rd annual word – PRIDE in March in PIGEON FORGE, TENNESSEE and the community of DES MOINES, IOWA produced their 5th Litter Letter project, also the word PRIDE. Keep Chadron Beautiful created WHY in May 2016 making NEBRASKA the 6th state to adopt the idea! A large traveling recycle symbol Litter Letter ♻️ debuted in PITTSBURGH, PA forming part of Allegheny CleanWays and PRC’s larger "Northside's keep it clean" campaign to fight litter and increase recycling in Pittsburgh’s Northside neighborhoods and became the 4th city in PA with Litter Letters. The Litter Letter Project went INTERNATIONAL when the community of Swan Valley in PERTH, WESTERN AUSTRALIA created Litter Letters that spelled out WHY? and then the city of ALBANY created REUSE and RECYCLE!

2017 | In the Spring, a 7ft tall Fleur de lis Litter Letter was created to raise awareness about items that could be recycled on the campus of Spring Hill College in MOBILE making this the first Litter Letter in ALABAMA! In the summer, Litter Letters debuted in BRISTOL, ENGLAND becoming the third continent to adopt the project! Litter Letters were also created in BALTIMORE, MARYLAND to become the 8th state in the USA with a Litter Letter project. In the Fall Litter Letters debuted in FINKE, (APUTULA), a remote indigenous community in the Northern territory of AUSTRALIA! In November 2017, Litter Letters were created in CEBU in the PHILIPPINES, the first in Asia to become the 4th continent to adopt the idea! Also in November the Litter Letter Project received the ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY AWARD at the AIGA (Re)Design Awards in St. Louis, MO. Thank you AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts) St. Louis for the honor. This award goes out to all the communities to date that have created Litter Letters as a tool to address the environmental issue of litter and recycling. 

2018 | Mesker Park Zoo & Botanical Gardens in EVANSVILLE, INDIANA debuted their ZOO Litter Letters for their party for the planet on Earth Day! Indiana is the 9th US state to adopt the project! The ReThink Litter Letters made in Lancaster, PA in 2015 continue to be recycled and were put on display at Ecore International for their Earth Day events. The WHY? Litter letters created in PERTH, Western Australia in 2016 continue to be used for events and were recently refilled and put on display in a new location in the city. CALIFORNIA became the 10th state to adopt the Litter Letter Project creating CARE in the city of San Bruno. In  October 2018 INSPIRE litter letters were created in Pikes Peak, COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO.  #TrashFreeDC Litter Letters also debuted in WASHINGTON DC and were on display in Anacostia National Park for the Year of the Anacostia.

2019 | FLORIDA became the 13th US state to adopt the Litter Letter project when KPB litter letters were made in Pensacola by Keep Pensacola Beautiful. The #trashfreeDC Litter Letters made last fall in Washington DC were placed on display in front of the World Bank on Pennsylvania Avenue in DC for Earth Day. Litter Letters debuted in NORTHERN IRELAND in the Spring! 5ft. tall THINK litter Letters created by Belfast City Council were on display at Belfast Spring Fair and will travel to several events this summer around Belfast. Love Your Street of Hull City Council with students from Hymers College made litter letters to create litter awareness in HULL, ENGLAND. The #LOVEHULLHATELITTER  letters were recently on display at Hull City Marathon. The Litter Letter Project was awarded an honorable mention in the 2018 London International Creative Competition. The project made it on to its 5th continent in October when Stop Don't Drop created Litter Letters in Abuja, NIGERIA, AFRICA for the Amazing Race Cleanup! Also in October 2019 a second Litter Letter Project PRISTINE was created in PIKES PEAK, Colorado Springs.

2020 | WHIDBEY ISLAND, WASHINGTON STATE became the 14th state to adopt the idea. Washington State University extension, Island County created EARTH litter letters for several events during the Spring and for Earth Week prior to current the global pandemic. The Litter Letter Project was awarded Silver in the social responsibility category of 2020 MUSE Creative Awards and an honorable mention for communication design in the 2020 DNA Paris Design Awards. In October 2020 the community of PIKES PEAK, Colorado created their 3rd annual litter letter project with 6ft RESILIENT.

2021 | MASSACHUSETTS became the 15th state in the US to adopt the Litter Letter Project with their WHY letters recently created and installed in the town of Sherborn and then shortly after the city of Melrose debuted their REDUCE litter letters. NORTH CAROLINA became the 16th state with litter letters debuting RETHINK in Hendersonville. In October PIKES PEAK continued with their annual installation displaying RESPECT litter letters in America the Beautiful Park.

2022 | RETHINK litter letters were built in April and displayed in Mansoorabad Pedda Cheruvu in INDIA making this the 7th country to adopt the project! CARE litter letters debuted in Melrose, Massachusetts as their second installation and letters made in Florida several years ago were used again for their annual bag swap in downtown Pensacola. In July Litter Letters debuted in SOUTH CAROLINA (state #17) for the first time when the community of Greenville created an installation as part of an educational exhibit at Roper Mountain Science Center. In October the community of PIKES PEAK, Colorado created their 5th annual litter letter project with 6ft PRICELESS!

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 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, twitter or email link. Thanks for your interest, Rachael Hatley