Every year in Luxembourg, 1001 tons of material is tossed or dumped as litter – that’s an average of 1,6 kilograms per inhabitant, with 216 kilograms of litter per kilometer strewn along the motorways and 103 kilograms per kilometer by the side of the country’s smaller roads. Cleaning this up costs the country 1,2 million Euros per year. The number 1001 may sound like a tale reminding us of the dreamy stories of our childhood but in this story, it is a reality.
With her camera she has been capturing all the junk that people leave behind: from the bathtubs they dump in the forest to the rubbish they leave behind after an outdoor barbecue to the cigarette butts and cans they toss out of car windows. While shooting this she has been trying to figure out why people do this, why people seem to have so little respect for the environment. She had countless meetings with people dealing professionally with the issue, did research into the numbers, the psychology, and the daily reality of littering and the fight against it.
To create awareness about this issue she created a book and an exhibition, a campaign along the highways and organize a Take Action Day as well as a travelling exhibition for schoolchildren around the country.
Release date: 2022
Languages: Luxembourgish, french, german, english
Pages: 124
Dimensions: 24 x 32 cm
Author: Jessica Theis
Edited by Marc Prüst
ISBN: 978-2879782379
