FAQ

Right now, we focus on stories told in film and television. Still, we are always open to new ideas about where to look next.

This project began from a love of movies and a real concern for the world we share. After seeing how often littering appeared in films, we felt it was time to notice it and talk about it.

We review every submission and, when possible, check the time and details before adding it to the archive. We want to keep our records as trustworthy as possible.

Our archive is open to the world. We welcome sightings from every country and language because littering touches us all.

We pay attention to moments when a character chooses to leave rubbish behind, with no plan to return for it or dispose of it properly. Our focus is on the ordinary things left behind, not accidents or the chaos of destruction.

We do not include moments where something is dropped by accident, like groceries falling during a chaotic scene, or when natural things like an apple core are tossed into the woods. We also leave out scenes of large-scale destruction, such as cars exploding or buildings falling. We look for small, everyday choices—when a character treats the world as if it will always take what they leave behind.

We notice every time a character on screen chooses to throw away, drop, or leave behind something artificial, with no plan to return for it or put it in a bin. This might be a cigarette flicked away, a fast food bag tossed from a car, a phone smashed on the pavement, or a coffee cup left on a bench. If something is left behind and becomes part of the scenery, we include it.

We track cigarette ends, takeaway coffee cups, plastic bottles, fast-food bags, drink cans, and the more dramatic moments—like a crushed phone, a tossed SIM card, or a tracking device smashed and left behind.

Not at all. We care deeply about cinema. This project is a thoughtful, sometimes playful look at the shortcuts we use in storytelling. When a character is meant to seem troubled, rebellious, or hurried, tossing something aside is a familiar sign. We simply feel it is time to notice and count these moments.

We are an open archive, quietly observing and collecting moments in film and television where characters treat rubbish bins as an afterthought. Whether it is an action hero flicking away a cigarette or someone hiding a SIM card in the woods, we follow the patterns that make littering seem ordinary in our stories.