In a unique research project, citizens were involved with drones to photograph the banks of the river Scheldt, after which AI examined the images for litter. The unique project, a partnership between VITO and River Cleanup, was a world first and has already won prizes.
The Waste Watchers initiative was organised thanks to a project appeal from amai! This programme aims not only to inform citizens about artificial intelligence (AI) but also to actively involve them in developing new AI applications in Flanders. Research projects combining AI and citizen science and which are also selected, receive financial support from the Flemish Government.
VITO turned to River Cleanup to set up a research project from scratch, says researcher and Waste Watchers project leader Klaas Pauly. “Our idea was to use AI in charting the litter on the banks of the river Scheldt. But that is an enormous area. By using lots of drones, each covering a small part of the river bank, you can combine all those images. This project is a unique opportunity to involve the general public and to use the technology to create awareness of an important social issue. We have the technological expertise in house at VITO, but we have limited experience in engaging citizens. River Cleanup did a great job at that.”
Dealing more efficiently with litter
Thomas de Groote, founder and CEO of River Cleanup: “We strongly believe that technology can accelerate the clearing of litter in and beside the world's rivers. In the space of six years, we have expanded into an organisation with over 200,000 volunteers, active in 89 different countries. By combining all those helping hands with technology, we can work even more efficiently and be more effective in dealing with litter. A project like Waste Watchers fits our mission perfectly.”
Waste Watchers was managed in three phases. First, drones were flown along the banks of the Scheldt. Everyone who made drone images could upload them on the website of River Cleanup. Then, with the help of AI, images were converted into a convenient (waste) distribution map. That makes it easy to see how much litter there is in each zone. VITO Remote Sensing developed image processing software to automatically process the large number of drone images. Finally, River Cleanup used the AI analysis in organising targeted clean-up activities and sending volunteers to the biggest hotspots.
Tracking litter with drones and AI is not new, but it was the first time in the world that so many citizens were involved. Citizen science is also on the rise in other fields. For example, in CurieuzeNeuzen, the research project in which thousands of citizens were involved in charting air pollution or drought. By involving citizens in their research, scientists can gather much more data exponentially. That is also the idea behind Waste Watchers.
The project has already received some prizes: in 2023, Waste Watchers won two Geospatial Awards. The competition was organised by FLAGIS and AM/FM-GIS BELUX the awards were presented on the occasion of Trefdag Vlaanderen Digitaal on 26 October 2023. Waste Watchers won in the category for the best professional project to be launched or completed in 2022 or 2023, and it also won the public award.
