Can you clean up a little piece of your world?

Throwing a wrapper on the floor is just one piece of paper, right? … Not right! In fact, our Earth is being buried under the sheer amount of Litter being thrown away daily.

As Scouting members, it is our duty to be a friend to the planet we live on and to minimise Litter as best we can. We have been working hard at this through the Plastic Tide Turners Challenge as well as our Scouts4SDG initiatives.

This year, SCOUTS South Africa has partnered with WOSM and the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE)’s Litter Less Campaign to pick up Litter within our schools, streets, parks, beaches, etc. and to commit to Littering Less and being Champions for Nature! The partnership will also include an environmental reporting training for the SSA Youth Influencers and Young Leader Representatives.

What is Litter Less?

The Litter Less Campaign is a global environmental literacy project run by FEE. Due to its visibility and wide-spread nature litter is a simple way to introduce children and youth to environmental challenges around the world and help them understand the impact within their own neighbourhoods. The programme includes environmental education training within local schools, organisations, and the likes, as well as clean-up actions whereby young people get to show their communities that they are not taking Littering anymore and are taking a stand.

How can you join in the Litter Less Action?

Joining in this global campaign and getting your FREE Litter Less badge is as easy as 123!

1. Identify a little piece of the world in your community that needs cleaning up. This can be your street, school grounds, sports field, local park, taxi rank, beach, church ground, etc.
2. During the months FEBRUARY AND MARCH, arrange a clean-up with your Den, Pack, Patrol, Troop, Crew, Group, or a group of like-minded Scouting friends where you pick up the Litter and throw it away in the correct manner.
3. Load a few photos and a short description, or else a video, on the Scouts4SDG platform (log in, go to take action and follow the prompts) and email the link, with your Scout Group name, and the amount of people that took part, to litterless@scouts.org.za  Everyone that took part will then qualify for the FREE Litter Less badge.

How does Litter Less tie into the National Challenge?

Annually we challenge you – our members – to complete a National Challenge. Last year over 3000 Scouting members rose to the challenge! This year we are challenging you all to be “Champions for Nature!”

To avoid too many separate campaigns, we have included a clean-up requirement to the National Challenge.
This clean-up action then also counts towards your contribution to the Litter Less Campaign if completed in February or March 2023.