Plastic-free lifestyle

Plastic-free lifestyle

Amsterdam

Lila Kremyda

Internship report

Track: Environmental Management Date: 15/04/2020

UvA Examiner: Albert Tietema Assessor: John Parsons

Picture front page: Retrieved November 11, 2019, from CITIES Foundation Facebook page. Msc Applicant Lila Kremyda Student number 11753803 Master Earth Sciences

Track Environmental Management University of Amsterdam Contact information Email: lilakremida08@yahoo.gr Tel: +306946874151 Examiner Dr. A. (Albert) Tietema Associate Professor

Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics

Faculty of Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Computer Science University of Amsterdam

Science Park 904, Amsterdam

Assessor

Dr. J.R. (John) Parsons Assistant Professor

Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics

Faculty of Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Computer Science University of Amsterdam

Science Park 904, Amsterdam

Daily Supervisor

Elisha Weeber

CITIES Foundation – WASTED Lab 1021 KP Amsterdam

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Thematic summary

2. Description of CITIES Foundation and performed activities

3. Detailed report of the content of the internship

4. Personal reflection

5. Future research recommendations

6. Acknowledgements

1. THEMATIC SUMMARY

This internship focused on how and to what extent it is possible for people to lead a plastic-free life considering the way plastic waste affects each part of our lives, and was divided in three parts. The first one was Smoking Hot, a project that is currently being developed under CITIES Foundation and it concerns cigarette butts collection, separation and recycling/upcycling, topics that have not been extensively researched and addressed yet. The second part was about the development of a digital app, called WASTED App, for citizens to reuse, recycle, separate plastic and live a plastic conscious lifestyle rewarding them with sustainable products at accessible prices. The last part was my participation in WASTED Lab, one of the dynamic platforms of CITIES Foundation. The precise content of the internship has changed and evolved over the months.

These projects gave me professional experience as well as important theoretical and practical knowledge, as I had the chance to work with all the stakeholders involved in them. Waste management in urban environments is a growing aspect, which will only gain more public attention in the next years to come. However, the evidence is that citizens and business owners are not ready yet to be thoroughly involved in campaigns and collaborations regarding waste collection, despite the fact that they recognize the damage plastic is doing to the environment. My research also showed that there are not adequate - or, concerning cigarette butts, any - initiatives by the municipality or private companies to manage urban waste problems. Small-scale organizations like CITIES Foundation have a long way ahead of them before a change is succeeded.

2. DESCRIPTION OF CITIES FOUNDATION AND PERFORMED ACTIVITIES

CITIES Foundation is a small organization, based in Amsterdam and in Stockholm, which works on empowering local communities for tackling global problems. They develop projects focused on active research, on the participation of local residents and on cooperation with the municipality. These projects vary from local food systems to sustainable waste management. The initiatives aim at a long-term sustainable circular multi-level system where local-level knowledge will be implemented on a global scale. WASTED Lab is one of CITIES Foundation’s platforms. It brings together public and private enterprises with citizens in the effort of recycling, refusing and collecting plastic.

While at CITIES Foundation, I was mainly in charge of the Smoking Hot project, and specifically I had to carry out the research part of it. Furthermore, I was handling the social media account of CITIES Foundation on Instagram and Facebook, and I was writing articles for the CITIES Magazine, concerning several environmental issues, but mainly cigarette butt littering and pollution. Finally, I participated in numerous activities in the company, such as contribution to the development of WASTED App, brainstorming and start-up kit delivery for WASTED Lab, and organizing communication plans for the promotion of the company’s projects.

3. DETAILED REPORT OF THE CONTENT OF THE INTERNSHIP A. Smoking Hot Project

Smoking Hot is a project that is currently being developed under CITIES Foundation and it concerns cigarette butts collection, separation and recycling/upcycling, topics that have not been properly researched and addressed yet.

Recycling is defined as the collection of waste materials as the first step, and then processing or re-manufacturing them through biological, mechanical or thermal means. The final step is releasing them back to the market (Zhuo & Levendis, 2014). A different process, which is called upcyling, concerns the conversion of waste and unused

materials into new products of extra value, while taking care of the environment (Ali et al., 2013).

Cigarette butts are the most common form of personal litter in the world. Filters only started being part of cigarettes in the 1950s, after the scientific community proved that smoking caused cancer and other serious diseases (Araújo & Costa, 2019). Almost 99% of all smokers worldwide smoke filtered cigarettes, and 76%–84% of them litter their cigarettes (Green et al., 2014). Over 5.6 trillion cigarette butts are found in nature each year (Chevalier et al., 2018). By 2025, this amount is predicted to reach up to 9 trillion cigarettes (Marinello et al., 2019). Cigarette butts have only recently been classified as

hazardous waste by the European Commission (Rebischung et al., 2018).

My task was to conduct research in order to shed light on effective ways to collect

cigarette butts. Based on this, the following research question was formed: “Which is the

most effective way to collect cigarette butts in Amsterdam envisioning an upcycling possibility?”

The research phase was divided into two parts:

1. Facts

For this part, literature research has been conducted about the production and

consumption of cigarette butts, their separation from the rest of the litter/garbage, as well as their compounds. A few extra information has been added concerning existing

available research.

2. System (network map, CB lifecycle, behavioural study)

This part included a network map along with a behavioural study and literature research, that has been conducted specifically for the life cycle of cigarette butts and the factors affecting it. Regarding the network map, a survey on the streets has been chosen as the

most effective way to collect data. Two locations have been chosen for research on HoRecA businesses:

- Nieuwmarktplein & surroundings - Overhoeksplein & IJ-promenade.

- Further research has been conducted in the Municipality of Amsterdam, with the help of my supervisor Elisha Weeber. In Picture 1, the chosen research locations can be seen.

Picture 1. Function-map of the city of Amsterdam. With the red dots are the retail shops and with the orange dots the HoReCa businesses. Highlighted with yellow colour are the chosen areas for the survey (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2020).

The following questions have been asked in person to the owners/floor managers of HoReCa businesses:

1. How often do you empty the ashtrays?

2. Do you separate cigarette butts from the rest of the garbage?

3. Do you purchase the ashtray or it was provided by the municipality/some organization/etc?

4. Are you aware/part of any program concerning the cigarette butts litter? 5. Would you be interested in a possible CB collection service

6. Is it possible for the ashtrays to be emptied by us? Would you let us do that?

Furthermore, an online survey has been conducted for the behavioural study. The questions were divided in four parts:

1) Personal information ● In what age group are you? ● Gender

2) Cigarette consumption ● Are you a smoker?

● In which place do you smoke the most cigarettes? ● Which days do you smoke more intensely?

3) Behaviour of smokers

● In general, do you litter your cigarette butts or properly dispose of them? ● Does the existence of ashtrays/disposal points near you affect your behaviour? 4) Public opinion

● Do you consider cigarette butts as part of the litter?

● Are you aware that cigarette filters are made of plastic particles? ● Do you think cigarette butts are toxic to the environment?

● Considering cigarette butts are toxic, would you be interested in disposing of them properly in ashtrays/disposal points?

● Would you be willing to participate in a future cigarette butt collection campaign? ● Would you be willing to buy a product made of recycled/upcycled cigarette butts? ● Which products would you be more willing to buy?

Finally, a series of articles on cigarette butts has been written, based on the literature research findings to introduce the topic to the CITIES community via CITIES Magazine, as well as to raise awareness. The first one was titled “Love your city? Bin your butts!” and contained information about literring behaviour, cigarette disposal and clean-up efforts. The second was called “Cigarettes: our butting legacy!” and dealt with the

environmental ramifications of cigarette butts. The last one had the title “A second life for cigarette butts?” and shed light on alternative ways for cigarette butts to continue

existing without being part of the litter. All the articles can still be found on CITIES Magazine.

The results of the research are presented in the text that follows below.

1. Facts

a. Cigarette butt production and consumption

As far as the production and consumption of cigarette butts is concerned, according to Mohajerani et al., (2016), in 2013 5.7 trillion cigarettes were manufactured worldwide, an amount that equals 1.2 million tons of cigarette butt waste. A 50% rise is expected in the previous-mentioned numbers by 2025. The estimate of 2014 calculates the global cigarette butt waste at 340-680 million kg per year (Marinello et al., 2019). Araújo &

Costa, (2019) state that in 2016, 5.505 trillion cigarettes were consumed worldwide, with the respective number being approximately 6.25 trillion for 2012 (Gill et al., 2018). More than 90% of the cigarettes that are manufactured contain plastic filters, and ⅔ of them are being thrown irresponsibly to the ground (CNN, 2019). Concerning the Netherlands, literature research showed that around 10 billion butts are thrown to the ground in the Netherlands every year, which is equal to almost 6 cigarette butts per smoker each day, almost 2500 each year. Only 80% of them are being cleaned up. The remaining 20% can take 2-12 years to totally decompose (RTL Nieuws, 2019).

b. Cigarette butt separation from litter

Literature research has shown that worldwide, the disposal of cigarette waste in landfills and their incineration are neither sustainable nor practicable solutions. Recycling is also not an easy task due to the absence of proper separation and treatment mechanisms (Mohajerani et al., 2016). Collection is expensive and challenging due to their small size. Litter clean-up cost is increased due to the big amount and high dispersion of cigarette butts (Torkashvand et al., 2019). In the Netherlands, the municipalities, the Directorate-General for Public Works and Water Management and the managers of nature areas are responsible for cleaning the public spaces, but that costs a lot of money.

According to the data gathered from the street survey, all HoReCa businesses answered negatively in the question concerning the separation of cigarette butts from the rest of garbage/litter. Finally, as far as the municipality of Amsterdam is concerned, Antina Snijder, who has been contacted by CITIES Foundation, stated that the municipality is not collecting any cigarette butts separately. They see the problem and want to take action but are at the moment researching the best way to do it. They provided cigarette tiles but did not manage the collection. Cleaners clean crowded areas in Amsterdam with vacuum cleaners. After that, cigarette butts go with the rest of the litter. There are a few waste bins with different sections for cigarette butts but after collection, they are being put together with the rest of the garbage.

c. Cigarette butt compounds

Cigarette butts consist of four parts: i) the cigarette filter, ii) burned and unburned tobacco, iii) ash, and iv) paper. The most dangerous ingredients are found in tobacco, but also remain in the filter after smoking. Only the paper wrap can be degraded fast (Araújo & Costa, 2019). In Picture 2, the parts of a cigarette butt are presented.

Picture 2. Parts of a cigarette butt (Marinello et al., 2019).

With the exceptions of Japan, South Korea, Venezuela and Hungary, in the rest of the countries worldwide almost 90% of filters consist of plastic-like cellulose acetate

(Mohajerani et al., 2016). Cellulose acetate “is a synthetic polymer made from cellulose,

end of the process, plasticizers are added”(Araújo & Costa, 2019). Furthermore, burned

cigarette tobacco contains up to 4000 chemical compounds. Some of them include: polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, N-nitrosamines, aromatic amines, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, benzene, and toxic metals (Cd, As, Ni, Cu, Pb and Zn) (Mohajerani et al., 2016). A big amount of these chemicals are carcinogenic. At least 150 are highly toxic (Araújo & Costa, 2019).

d. Additional existing research

Since Cities Foundation is dealing with urban issues, it is only fair to mention that urban environments are the places who suffer most from cigarette litter. Cigarette butts are the most common type of litter in urban areas, forming 22–46% of litter. Ιn cities, 76% of cigarettes smoked in public are littered (Green et al., 2014). In Australia, 25–30 billion cigarettes are consumed smoked every year, with 7 billion of them being thrown to the ground. are littered (Mohajerani et al., 2016). In Sao Paulo city, approximately 34 million cigarette butts are littered each day (Araújo & Costa, 2019).

As it is already mentioned, cigarette butts are an extremely complicated waste, due to the fact that they accommodate an abundance of organic and inorganic compounds (Montalvão et al., 2019). Studies by Gill et al., 2018, and Montalvão et al., 2019, have shown that cigarette chemicals are responsible for high mortality rates, biochemical damage, embryotoxicity, genotoxicity, neurotoxicity, weight and body composition change, as well as behavioral changes to a plethora of organisms, such as fish, amphibians, birds and mammals.

In addition, the filters of cigarettes, even unsmoked, remain toxic, because nicotine is extremely soluble in water (Green et al., 2019). 1 cigarette butt can contaminate 1000 liters of water (Araújo & Costa, 2019). Urban areas suffer from the adverse

consequences of cigarette butts pollution also in a more aesthetic way. Locations with high potential for cigarette butts existence are those around shopping malls, restaurants, bars, grocery stores, gas stations, cafes, liquor stores, convenience stores, and traffic signals (Torkashvand et al., 2019).

2. System

a. Network Map

Picture 3. Businesses that participated in the survey around Nieuwmarkt and in Amsterdam Noord are pinned (Google Maps, 2020).

The names of the businesses are as follows:

● In Amsterdam Noord: Tolhuistuin, Cafe De Pont, The Butcher Social Club, Sir Adam Hotel, Amsterdam Lookout, This Is Holland

● In Nieuwmarkt and its surroundings: Cafe Del Mondo, Cafe De Doelen, De Staalmeesters

In general, cigarette butts in HoReCa businesses are not collected by anyone or

separated from the rest of the garbage. Ashtrays are not provided by the municipality or the state, with the exception of some pits that are found around the Amsterdam Lookout, and business owners buy them themselves. Questions 4 and 6 were answered

negatively by all business owners/floor managers. Half of them were positive about question 5. Ashtrays are emptied multiple times by the staff members when it is summer time, but rarely when the weather is not good.

b. Cigarette butt lifecycle

One cigarette butt is not capable of causing great environmental damage. The accumulation, though, of huge amounts of cigarette filters is a whole different thing (Desideri et al., 2019). The extent of pollution is also directly related to the amount of time they remain in the environment (Rebischung et al., 2018), which is part of the lifecycle of the cigarette butt.

The cigarette butt, after one smokes a cigarette, is thrown either to the environment, urban or rural, or is properly disposed of in bins and ashtrays. There is not adequate literature regarding the lifecycle of cigarette butts. However, several facts are known concerning the factors that influence their presence in the environment.

Cigarette litter is related to factors, such as age and gender. Young people more often throw their cigarettes in the street than older people, and men litter cigarette butts more often than women. Ignorance and lack of knowledge also play their part. While most people today understand that cigarette litter is an environmental problem, a minority of them still don't recognize tossed butts as a type of waste (Rath et al., 2015).

Another contributing factor is policies that prohibit smoking, which lead to higher

numbers of cigarette butts, and, subsequently, to greater environmental risks and clean-up costs. Cigarette butts are, in this way, commonly discarded at places of transition from an outdoor to an indoor environment where smoking is not tolerated, i.e. buildings entrances (Green et al., 2014). The amount of butts is finally affected by a number of factors, which include: solar intensity, wind, currents, rivers, frequency of smoking, smokers’ behavior, and efficiency of cleaning services (Araújo & Costa, 2019).

c. Behavioural study

The results of the online survey are presented in the graphs below (Figures 1-10).

● Personal information

Figure 1. Pie charts presenting the age and gender of the people who took the survey.

● Cigarette consumption

Figure 2. Pie chart presenting the amount of smokers, occasional smokers and non-smokers.

According to Figure 2, almost half of the people are smokers, and the rest are almost equally non-smokers and occasionally smokers.

Figure 3. Bar graph presenting the types of places people mostly smoke at.

As it can be seen in Figure 3, the most preferred place for smoking is outside HoReCa and retail businesses (almost half of the population), followed by home and work. Natural spaces and train stations are the least popular.

Figure 4. Bar graph presenting the days of week that people smoke more intensely.

According to Figure 4, most people usually smoke more intensely during the weekend, but this is followed closely by people who always smoke in the same pattern.

● Behaviour of smokers

Figure 5. Pie chart presenting the smokers’ behaviour regarding the disposal of cigarette butts.

Figure 5 shows that regarding the smokers, the majority of them properly dispose of their cigarette butts.

Figure 6. Pie chart presenting the change in smokers’ behaviour in relevance to the presence of disposal points near them.

The big majority of smokers declare that they are definitely influenced by the presence of an ashtray/disposal point in close proximity to them. An adequate percentage of them is hesitant.

● Public opinion

Figure 7. Pie charts showing the public’s opinion regarding cigarette butts and their characteristics (first) /composition (second) /effects on the environment (third).

As far as the opinion of the public is concerned, Figure 7 shows that the big majority of them are exceptionally aware of the composition of cigarette butts and their damaging effect on the environment. An overwhelming percentage also considers cigarette butts as part of the litter.

Figure 8. Pie chart presenting the willingness of citizens to properly dispose of their cigarette butts, taking into account that cigarette butts are toxic to the environment.

As one can see in Figure 8, almost the entire population is positive to properly dispose of their cigarette butts in ashtrays.

Figure 9. Pie charts demonstrating the willingness of people to be part of a collection campaign and to buy recycled/upcycled products.

Contrary to what was expected if the previous Figures are taken into account, Figure 9 indicates that are mostly hesitant towards new initiatives, whether these concern

collection of cigarette butts or new types of products made of recycled/upcycled cigarette butts.

Figure 10. Bar graphs showing the types of recycled/upcycled products people are mostly willing to buy.

As it can be seen in Figure 10, the most preferred products are packaging items and accessories, followed by clothes and outdoor furniture. People are not positive towards beauty products made of upcycled cigarette butts.

Some facts that occur from analysing the online survey are described in the coming paragraphs:

● Non-smokers in general

The vast majority is 20-29 years old and female The majority of them (~66-87%) believe that CBs are part of the litter, contain plastic, and are toxic to the environment. However, only almost half of them are willing to participate in a collection campaign (40%) or to buy upcycled products (~50%). The most to least preferred products are: clothes and accessories, outdoor furniture, packaging, indoor furniture, beauty products.

● Male non-smokers

Aged 20-39, half of them believe that CBs are part of the litter and contain plastic. All of them believe that CBs are toxic to the environment. All of them are also willing to participate in a CB collection campaign and ¾ of them are willing to buy products made of upcycled CBs. The most chosen type of products is clothes, followed by indoor and outdoor furniture, and accessories. Beauty products and packaging are not preferred.

● Female non-smokers

Aged 20-39, the vast majority (~72-82%) of them believe that CBs are part of the litter, contain plastic, and are toxic to the environment. However, only ~10% of them are willing to participate in a campaign, with half of them being indecisive. Concerning buying upcycled products, half of them seem willing to do so. The most preferred products are accessories, followed by clothes and outdoor furniture, and packaging. Less preferred are the beauty products and indoor furniture.

● Occasional smokers in general

Most of them aged 20-29, some aged 30-39, and a few are 19 and under. Half are female, half male. More than half of them usually smoke outside HORECA, with home and work occupying the second and third place. Also almost half of them usually smoke during the weekend, and almost 1/3 of them smoke always at the same pattern. Almost all of them properly dispose of their CBs, and half of them are affected by the presence of ashtrays near them. The majority of them (~76-93%) believe that CBs are part of the litter, contain plastic, and are toxic to the environment, and all of them are willing to properly dispose of their CBs. However, only half of them are willing to participate in a collection campaign. Almost all of them are willing to buy upcycled products. The most to least preferred products are: packaging, clothes, accessories, outdoor and indoor furniture, beauty products.

● Male occasional smokers

Half of them aged 20-29, the rest aged 30-39 and 19 and under. Almost 1/3 of them usually smoke outside HORECA, and the rest smoke at home/work/natural spaces, and outside stations/wherever they can. The majority of them (67%) smoke always at the same pattern, properly dispose of their CBs (83%), and are affected by the presence of ashtrays near them (67%). Half of them are willing to participate in a collection

campaign. All of them consider CBs are part of the litter and are willing to properly dispose of them, as well as to buy upcycled products, and the big majority of them believe that CBs contain plastic, and are toxic to the environment. The most to least preferred products are: packaging, accessories and indoor furniture, outdoor furniture, beauty products, clothes.

● Female occasional smokers

Most of them aged 20-29, some aged 30-39, and a few are 19 and under. Almost ¾ of them usually smoke outside HORECA, and the rest smoke at home. The same ratio applies to the days, with ¾ of them smoking during the weekend, and ¼ of them during weekdays. All of them properly dispose of their CBs, and almost half of them are affected by the presence of ashtrays near them. The vast majority (85%) believes that CBs are part of the litter, contain plastic, and are toxic to the environment, and all of

them are willing to properly dispose of their CBs. However, only half of them are willing to participate in a collection campaign. Almost all of them (~80%) are willing to buy upcycled products. The most to least preferred products are: beauty products and clothes, packaging, accessories, indoor furniture, outdoor furniture.

● Smokers in general

Almost ¾ of them aged 20-29, the rest aged 30-59. The big majority are female (70%), the rest male. The most to least preferred places for smoking are: outside HORECA, home, work, natural spaces, outside stations. Almost half of them (40%) always smoke at the same pattern, and the other half (40%) during the weekend. The rest of them smoke during weekdays. The big majority (65%) properly dispose of their CBs and are affected by the presence of ashtrays near them. The vast majority (70-90%) of them believe that CBs are part of the litter, contain plastic, are toxic to the environment, and are willing to properly dispose of their CBs. However, only a few of them (15%) are willing to participate in a collection campaign. Half of them said they are willing to buy upcycled products. The most to least preferred products are: accessories and outdoor furniture, clothes and packaging, indoor furniture, beauty products.

● Male smokers

The majority (66%) aged 20-29. The rest aged 30-39. Smoking is equally shared (31%) outside HORECA, at home, and at work. A few smoke at natural spaces. The majority (67%) smokes always follow the same pattern. The rest during the weekend. The big majority (~67%) properly dispose of their CBs and half of them are affected by the presence of ashtrays near them. The big majority (67-83%) also believes that CBs are part of the litter, contain plastic, are toxic to the environment, and are willing to properly dispose of their CBs. However, only 20% of them are willing to participate in a collection campaign. Half of male smokers want to buy upcycled products. The most to least preferred products are: packaging and accessories, outdoor furniture, clothes, indoor furniture, beauty products.

● Female smokers

The majority (70%) aged 20-29. The rest aged 30-59. Almost half of them (41%) usually smoke outside HORECA. The rest smoke at home, work, natural spaces, outside stations. Also almost half of them smoke during the weekend, with the rest following always the same pattern or smoking during the weekdays. The big majority (~65%) properly disposes of their CBs and is affected by the presence of ashtrays near them. The big majority (65-93%) also believes that CBs are part of the litter, contain plastic, are toxic to the environment, and are willing to properly dispose of their CBs. However, only 20% of them are willing to participate in a collection campaign. The majority of female smokers want to buy upcycled products. The most to least preferred products are: packaging, outdoor and indoor furniture, clothes and accessories, beauty products.

Conclusions and limitations

The survey that was conducted on the streets showed that cigarette butts in HoReCa businesses are not collected by the municipality or any other private company. Furthermore, there is currently no separation of cigarette butts from the rest of the garbage by the businesses. Ashtrays are not provided by the municipality or the state, with the exception of some pits around the Amsterdam Lookout, and business owners buy them themselves. Business owners are negative towards participation in cigarette butt campaigns or collaboration with CITIES Foundation in that front.

According to the online survey, the people/citizens are also generally hesitant to any kind of participation or involvement, despite the fact that the majority of them are aware of the threats cigarette butts pose to the environment. The survey also indicates that, in general, people behave in a conscious way regarding cigarette littering, while the literature research had indicated the opposite. The municipality is interested in being involved but it will take a lot of time for a collaboration to happen. CITIES Foundation will need to find ways to promote the campaign and to raise awareness before the project is launched officially, if they want it to be successful.

It is worth to be mentioned that the audience of both surveys (in HoReCa and online) was limited due to the short amount of time given to prepare and carry out the research. Also, there have been an important number of business owners that have been unwilling to participate in the survey.

After this research is presented to the involved stakeholders the budget will be decided, based on the research phase results. It is possible that the members of CITIES

Foundation will want to conduct further research on this topic.

B. WASTED App

Born in 2015 as a project of CITIES Foundation, WASTED assigns value to household waste. This is done through an innovative reward system, in which WASTED becomes an alternative currency that is based on recycling behaviour. The better your recycling skills, the more WASTED currency you will earn. Right now, WASTED is developing an app that encourages you not only to recycle waste but also to refuse the consumption of plastic.

My contribution to WASTED App included the following:

● Feedback meeting about the app with current WASTED platform members, take pictures and notes, writing a report

● Brainstorming concerning useful tips for the app users as well as slogans ● Writing down the FAQ for the app

● Writing and submitting a scientific article -co-written with my colleague Floor Matla- to Media Architectuur Biennale 2020, titled “Why now is the time for eco-apps: How the WASTED App can impact the interaction between digital and physical environments and how it can be used to guide recycling behaviour”. Mobile apps have remarkably altered the way people experience daily life. One of their most promising features is that they can be used as a means of creating a massive influence on global societal issues. Their main target group is

Millennials. The physical world is augmented with digital media, forming a hybrid interface, or ecology. Mobile phones are the perfect portal to form a hybrid ecology, with gamification as an ally. Mobile apps, which is the media

architecture in this case, are the means to achieve this. media architecture. With a growing amount of environmental issues, such as climate change and air pollution, human society is now facing the problem of extended public awareness and knowledge, as well as engagement in eco-friendly activities. The paper therefore functions as a theoretical and speculative approach on the possible impact WASTED App - an eco-app - has on the sustainable behaviour of urban citizens as well as its current activities and results.

C. WASTED Lab

The goal of WASTED Lab is to intervene in the usual plastic life cycle through upcycling. The concept of WASTED Lab is simple. For every bag of recycled waste a member receives a reward in the form of a coin. This coin can then be spent at any of WASTED’s “rewarders”. Rewarders can be all sorts of entrepreneurs that provide discounts in exchange for WASTED coins. Currently WASTED only operates in Amsterdam and in particular in the city district Amsterdam Noord. To better track the performances of users and to cope with scaling-up strategies WASTED digitized the reward system in the beginning of 2017. By use of a web-based QR-system it is now possible to track separation performances as well as number of redemptions through the system. Every container in the Northern borough has a QR-sticker attached as seen on the picture of the yellow container below. To get a coin, you scan the sticker, open the link it directs you to, choose your waste stream and upload a picture of your bag. The tasks I executed for WASTED Lab are the following:

● Picture Validation on WASTED Lab website ● Quizzes for social media

● Christmas campaign

● Start-up kits delivery in Amsterdam Noord

D. Other activities for CITIES Foundation

Other activities I performed for CITIES Foundation included: being in charge of the social media of CITIES Foundation (Facebook and Instagram), occasionally writing articles for CITIES Magazine on several topics, checking the corporate emails and forwarding them

to my supervisor, as well as making quizzes for the people who followed CITIES Foundation on social media. Finally, I participated in planning the Christmas Campaign specifically for CITIES Foundation, which was mainly displayed on Instagram.

4. PERSONAL REFLECTION

I worked as an intern at CITIES Foundation for five months. During those months, I gained a lot of experience and shared beautiful moments with my colleagues. On a personal level, I had the chance to connect with very kind and thoughtful people, who do not only care about business, but also about personal development and communication. On a professional level, my skills have been strengthened, as I learned how to adapt and function within the environment of a business. Both my supervisor and my boss treated me in an excellent way, since the beginning. My colleagues came from different countries, but that was never a problem. I dare say that it was only an advantage, as we exchanged so many different cultural experiences and knowledge. CITIES Foundation working environment is based on mutual respect and the previously mentioned diversity. I was trusted with decision making, often about crucial matters, and I was given the freedom to always express my opinion about the projects. In this way, I felt valued and equal to everyone else in the organization. CITIES Foundation is a small organization that is slowly but steadily expanding. I am really happy to have been part of this growth and of all the innovative projects. So far I only had academic experience in the

sustainability sector, but after this internship I also have professional skills. It was really fulfilling to see the results of my work within the organization, and considering the fact that I come from a geological background, I was thrilled to have found out that I can perform well in the new field my Master’s studies prepared me for. Now, I can pursue a career in this field with much more confidence.

5. FUTURE RESEARCH RECOMMENDATIONS

In this section, a few ideas will be presented, concerning possible future actions. First off, ideally, an expansion of the WASTED App to other cities in the Netherlands or to other countries, could yield magnificent results in the field of waste management and sustainability. Moreover, further research on cigarette butts, their perception by people and other possible collection ways could be proven extremely useful.

Secondly, outside of CITIES Foundation, but in the same field, a series of solutions have already been proposed by scientists. The first one is the incorporation of cigarette butts - less than 5% content - into construction bricks. Bricks with cigarette butt content higher than 5% are also acceptable, but for other purposes, such as facades and internal walls. A brick with 1% content contains about 32 g of cigarette butts. 1500 billion bricks are produced worldwide per year. So, after brief calculations, an estimated 48 million tons of cigarette butts could be recycled each year. Furthermore, if 2.5% of the global brick production contained bricks with 1% butts, all cigarette butts produced worldwide could theoretically be recycled (Mohajerani et al., 2016).

The second solution involves biodegradable filters as an alternative to the planet-polluting acetate filter. Greenbutts is a company that has developed and patented

technology that provides such an alternative. Their filter can only biodegrade in 3 days in compost (Greenbutts, 2020). Another solution that already exists is a method, with which cellulose is extracted from the filter, and then paper is recycled (Araújo & Costa, 2019). Finally, Terracycle, a New Jersey-based firm, has partnered with businesses, cities, and consumers around the world to collect used filters so they can be ‘upcycled’ into

something useful, like park benches and shipping pallets (Good News Network, 2018).

6. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to thank my UvA supervisors, Albert Tietema and John Parsons, for their willingness to be part of this internship. I would also like to express my gratitude to Elisha Weeber and Francesca Miazzo, from CITIES Foundation, for their perfect guidance and support, especially through difficult times. My grateful thanks are extended to the other girls of the organization, Floor Matla, Chloe Bensoussan and Julie Hernu. My friend Mirte Steenkamp could not stay out of my gratitude list, as she is the one who suggested that I should do my internship at CITIES Foundation in the first place. Finally, my biggest thank you to my mother, Eleni, who kept me whole and, despite all the difficulties, encouraged me to never give up. This piece of writing is dedicated to my father, Panagiotis, who passed away in January, and who would have been so proud of this internship.

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