We believe littering is a significant problem effecting local pride, how an area is perceived, impacting crime rates and costing UK council tax payers nearly £1billion annually.

Hubbub UK will pioneer a new way of fighting littering in Villiers Street, testing the latest best thinking on behaviour change and awareness-raising from around the world. We aim to create a sense of community and civic pride, which has proved crucial in long-term anti-litter campaigns. A great example is www.dontmesswithtexas.org.

We will meet with key stakeholders over three months to understand their challenges and create behaviour change programmes, selected from the best international initiatives and concepts from leading design students. Stakeholders will ideally include local businesses, The GLA, The City of Westminster, Northbank BID, Veolia UK.

The chosen ideas will be implemented over 6 months and results will be independently evaluated and shared, allowing for future replication.

What we'll deliver:

• Create the world’s deepest rubbish bin (www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcrhp-IWK2w) , successful in cutting littering.
• Encourage a shift in social norms using Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
• Select a range of behaviour change and awareness-raising initiatives using best learning from around the world.
• Use gamification, which has be shown to be effective in promoting positive behaviours and stopping people littering.
• Use Visualisation, such as projected images and optical illusion street art.
• Create a Litter Cube (www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9FAmuzjG5M) which featured in the ‘Don’t Mess with Texas’ campaign.
• Create marketing collateral Eg. posters, campaign t-shirts, temporary tattoos and other supporting materials.
• Install a ‘basketball’ bin encouraging people to throw various types of litter into the bin.
• Link in with key visitor attractions and events including the Totally Thames week in September.
• Offer items to reduce littering such as re-usable coffee cups, mobile trash bins, and cigarette end pouches.

Why it's a great idea:

This is a collaborative approach which allows local groups and businesses to have an integral role in shaping the future of Villiers Street.

It provides a framework for a completely new way of dealing with littering in the UK, leading with fun and engaging messages for mainstream audiences in order to tackle this serious issue.

The impact of the project will be environmental, social and financial.
1) Environmental impact: Villiers Street will look and feel better, making it a more vibrant and attractive place to live and work.
2) Social impact: the project will increase community cohesion and civic pride, increasing trust and reducing crime rates.
3) Financial impact: environmental improvements will encourage greater footfall, bolstering local business and reducing street cleaning costs.

Running the project for 9 months will ensure that we can test a range of options and get valid results, which will be assessed in full by an independent evaluation organisation.

Steps to get it done:

• We will create a robust evaluation framework to measure reach, engagement and impact.
• We will work with a media partner to develop a marketing strategy and agree messaging and language.
• We will hold messaging and impact workshops with local groups and businesses.
• We will map out the area around Villiers Street, identifying locations for installations.
• We will meet with students, designers and artists to develop ideas for public displays and interactives.
• We will provide support to designers and artists sourcing materials and creating concepts.
• We will set up a project team and meet with key stakeholders to identify their priorities and develop key concepts.
• We will set up an evaluation team and collect baseline data through a public poll.

The project is being designed in collaboration with The NorthbankBID, Veolia and INCPEN and financial support already secured totals £67,000.

Hubbub UK will be responsible for managing the project delivery, with a proven track record of delivering effective wide-reaching initiatives. Our food waste campaign at Halloween (#pumpkinrescue) received significant national press attention, celebrity endorsement, and ran alongside a fabulous festival in Oxford. More recently we supported the Department of Energy and Climate Change to create a #BackClimateAction tweetathon. 13,542 tweets were sent with 126 million impressions. We will run a similar online campaign for the litter project.

There is a wealth of experience within Hubbub, founded by Trewin Restorick previously the Founder and CEO of the award-winning UNEP endorsed Global Action Plan. There is also considerable expertise within our Board of trustees, chaired by Viki Cooke, Co Founder of Britain Thinks.