Episode Summary: in this episode of CarbonSessions, we dive deep into a conversation with César, co-founder of Clean Something For Nothing (CSFN).

With their innovative app, CSFN empowers individuals to clean nature, one bag of trash at a time. Their platform brings together a community of people, municipalities, and companies, fostering collaboration to create a cleaner and healthier environment for all.

César shares the inspiring mission of CSFN, where every small contribution toward removing litter counts as a step toward their collective objective—a testament to the power of shared responsibility.

Driven by their vision for a litter-free world, César and the CSFN team aim to build a conscious and collaborative society. They believe that together, we can create a world where nature flourishes in its purest form, ensuring future generations inherit a cleaner and healthier planet.

Tune in to learn how this impactful initiative harnesses the power of community to spark significant environmental change.

To find out more about CSFN go to https://cleansomethingfornothing.com/

You can also download the app and start a cleanup right away!

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For more information on the project and to order your copy of the Carbon Almanac (one of Amazon best-selling books of the year!), visit thecarbonalmanac.org

Want to join in the conversation?

Visit thecarbonalmanac.org/podcasts and send us a voice message on this episode or any other climate-related ideas and perspectives.

Don’t Take Our Word For It, Look It Up!

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Featuring Carbon Almanac Contributors Leekei Tang, Brian Tormey, Jennifer Myers Chua, Olabanji Stephen, and Kristina Horning

Leekei is a fashion business founder, a business coach, an international development expert and podcaster from Paris, France.

Brian is a Real Estate Title Insurance Professional and Goat Farmer in the US.

Jennifer is a Torontonian and CCO of a conscious distribution company. She is also the co-founder of Goodbids, a tool that connects worthy causes with people who want to have fun supporting them.

Olabanji is from Lagos Nigeria. He’s a Creative Director and visual designer that helps brands gain clarity, deliver meaningful experiences and build tribes through Design & Strategy. He founded Jorney - a community designed to help people stay productive, accountable, and do their best work.

Kristina has a background in architecture and engineering. Currently in Prague (that it is where she is originally from) and her base is US.

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The CarbonSessions Podcast is produced and edited by Leekei Tang, Steve Heatherington and Rob Slater.

Hi, I'm Christina.

2

I'm from Prague.

3

Hi, I'm Jen, and I'm from Canada.

4

Hi, I'm Oladunji, and I'm from Nigeria.

5

Hello, I'm Liki, and I live in Paris.

6

Hi, I'm Brian, and I'm from New York.

7

Welcome to Carbon Sessions, a podcast with

Carbon Conversations for every day, with

8

everyone, from everywhere in the world.

9

In our conversations, we share ideas,

Perspectives, questions, and things we

10

can actually do to make a difference.

11

So don't be shy and join our Carbon

Sessions because it's not too late.

12

Hi, I'm Liki.

13

And today we have an amazing guest, Jath.

14

I've met a few weeks ago when I

attended a summit, a kind of summit

15

in Paris that was called Channel.

16

It's the, the tagline of this

summit is Solutions for the Planet.

17

And I was walking.

18

Down the aisles and I saw someone that

was wearing a big black jacket, a very

19

dark color and it was covered with trash,

like pieces of litter taped onto this.

20

And I think this is genius, you know, this

guy is the wizard of Guerrilla marketing.

21

It just made me laugh because I don't

know if I mean, I bet that he didn't pay

22

his booth to get attention, but I'm sure

that he got a lot of people talk to him.

23

And so that's how I bum into him,

and I started talking to him, and he

24

was trying to sell me the idea that I

should join trash picking adventures.

25

Which I think, no, um,

I don't want to do this.

26

It is real disgusting.

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I mean, I know someone who, of this group

that loves doing it, which is Brian , and

28

so you have to come on this podcast to

us and talk to this group and why, well,

29

why it's good to pick up trash and why

you think that it can be a good thing

30

and beneficial for the environment.

31

So welcome Cesar.

32

Thank you so much, Liki.

33

Thank you for having me.

34

It's a big pleasure.

35

And this introduction is, I think,

the most epic I've ever had.

36

Yeah.

37

How do you come up with this idea?

38

I think it's really genius.

39

Thank you so much.

40

I remember well the time

we met in Change Now.

41

Um, well, it all started by me

picking up litter literally one day.

42

I was in my hometown, in

the house of my parents.

43

so much.

44

They live in the countryside.

45

I saw trash and I, it bothered

me that day, especially for

46

some reason, God knows why.

47

And then I just grab a bag and 10 minutes,

15 minutes later, I picked up the trash

48

that was, uh, on the side of the road.

49

And I felt good.

50

I saw a direct impact and I

said, wow, I just created value.

51

Doing a very simple

thing for 10, 15 minutes.

52

Like it's good for me because now

it's not bothering for my mom.

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Maybe if she realized when

she's back home, I mean, all the

54

neighbors, everybody passing by.

55

So I created value in a way.

56

And yeah, that was the,

that was the starting point.

57

And I said, okay, what if each

one of us does this just like 10

58

minutes, what would it happen?

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And so, yeah, it all started

that, uh, that at that moment.

60

So, as I said, What if everybody does it?

61

I went on the internet and

yeah, I wasn't a pioneer.

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Many people out there

was doing it already.

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And I discovered this beautiful

community on Instagram and I created

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this page, clean something for nothing,

because that's what, what I did.

65

I just cleaned something for nothing.

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I didn't expect anything in return.

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I just did it because.

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I felt great, obviously, and, uh, I

did something good for, for myself

69

as well, but for my environment.

70

So, yeah, to make it a bit short, this

hashtag, clean something for nothing,

71

I was using it in all my cleanups.

72

I did, um, a trip in my campervan and

everywhere I would go, I would first

73

clean for five or ten minutes, no big

deal, and then take out the chairs and

74

maybe have some, some lunch or whatever.

75

In near the, in the

forest or near the beach.

76

And so this hashtag went kind of vital.

77

Uh, now we have over 15, 000

posts using the long hashtag clean

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something for nothing on Instagram.

79

So at that point, my friend Lester

and myself, we are the two founders

80

of clean something for nothing.

81

We said, okay, we are now.

82

Quite a lot of people out there doing

this clean something for nothing.

83

It would be nice to put this in value.

84

That means how many of us are out there?

85

How many kilos are we picking up?

86

And you started in Luxembourg, right?

87

Okay.

88

No, uh, my hometown is Spain.

89

No, but you, you got the point

because I live in Luxembourg.

90

So that's where we are based

and that's where I live.

91

Uh, but I am a Spanish originally

from Leon in the north of Spain.

92

So yeah, the first cleanup happened

there, but that was my first cleanup.

93

Today is not, I mean, the app is

thanks to all the people behind

94

all the users that it has a value.

95

Otherwise it would just be another app.

96

And it's basically worldwide.

97

Yeah, so I was in the point where

I told you, okay, it would be nice

98

to have an app that was in 2020.

99

Um, a bit after the pandemic started.

100

So my friend Lester and me decided,

okay, let's, let's find a mobile app.

101

So we went on the Play Store, Apple

Store, um, checked for all the mobile

102

apps related to litter picking.

103

We found quite a lot, to be

honest, about 14 different apps.

104

We checked all of them, but we came

out with the conclusion that none of

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those would fit what we wanted to do.

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Why?

107

Because most of those apps

were very data oriented.

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That means you as a user, after your

cleanup, had to spend, uh, Quite amount of

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time to post what you picked up that, that

is because you needed to categorize the

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litter, uh, to say, for instance, I picked

these pieces of plastic, this plastic was

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a bottle or was it a wrap or et cetera.

112

So it was very good for the data,

but for you as a user, after

113

like 10 minutes, half an hour of

cleanup, you don't want to do that.

114

So we came to this approach,

we sit down and be like, Okay,

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let's try to do something not

data oriented, but user oriented.

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And that was where everything ignited.

117

We started to talk to people that we

met on Instagram, doing video calls,

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one on one, asking for their opinion.

119

What would be their best mobile app,

according to their needs, to their wishes.

120

Uh, we met like, yeah, about 15

people or something like this.

121

We call these people the beta group.

122

Then we also checked all the reviews,

crazy, like every single comment from

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existing apps, and we took the good

part, the good comments in one side

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and the bads in the other side to

understand better what was required.

125

And with all this info, we

built what today is the clean

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something for nothing app.

127

I have a question about these hashtags.

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So if you started on Instagram and you

saw these hashtags growing, what In

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what context were people using those?

130

Was it individuals?

131

Was it organizations?

132

Was it classes?

133

Who was using your hashtag?

134

Oh yeah, so mostly

organizations and individuals.

135

So organizations, litter pickers,

people who meet once a week on

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Saturday morning, something like

this, and clean up regularly.

137

And the good thing about this

hashtag is that inequivocally

138

it's about litter picking.

139

It's not about, you know, you post

another thing and you use the hashtag.

140

No, this one is really niche.

141

So they, yeah, mostly cleanup groups,

although some schools as well.

142

But mostly cleanup groups

and individuals as well.

143

I have another question.

144

Um, I told you, I'm not a big,

um, leader picking person.

145

Um, I get it when I go, um, when I go

and do plugging and, um, I, you know,

146

um, in the forest because they are,

there's no cleaning team, but in the

147

city, um, in the city, they are people

picking up junk, picking up the litters.

148

like today I saw some people, a

group of people picking up trash

149

on the, on the ground in Paris.

150

And I thought, yeah, but

why are they doing it?

151

Because there are other people

that professionals doing it.

152

And because this goes back to, uh,

one of the comment of when I was young

153

and in school and was long time ago,

but at that, uh, people were smoking

154

and, um, teachers were smoking.

155

And I, I told one of my

teacher because I saw him.

156

Throwing a cigarette butt on the, um, on

the floor and say, why are you doing this?

157

And he told me that, you know,

if I don't do that, the street

158

cleaners won't have any jobs.

159

So I'm doing them a favor, very

contrarian idea onto onto onto

160

taking a job of street cleaners.

161

Keeping unemployment rates high, I mean.

162

No, but it was a long time ago, but, but

my question is that, you know, who, who,

163

what kind of people would, obviously

I'm, I'm not a big fan of, you know, of

164

picking the trash, but what sort of people

would, Would find joy in picking trash.

165

I know I would do it.

166

So why do you guys do that?

167

Well, for example, the other day I went

out with my daughter and we saw in a park,

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like a local park in our neighborhood,

there was a bunch of kids doing it

169

together and it's getting them excited

about, you know, taking care of their

170

community and taking care of the land.

171

But I mean, street

cleaners, we're a big city.

172

It gets dirty around here and I don't

know if even the employees of the City

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of Toronto have enough time to go through

every single park every day so it's

174

nice to be a part of something leaky

and do good for for your community.

175

And like I have fun doing it

and and and almost like you know

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seeing and like thinking about

the story behind each piece.

177

Um, I was just on a hike with, uh,

with two friends and, and it was the

178

first time one of the two had ever,

we'd ever gone on a hike together.

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We've only, he started dating

my other friend recently.

180

By the end of the hike, I had all this

trash that I was carrying and I think

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he just kept like sort of looking at

me a little bit weird and askance.

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Um, but I, but he got it by the end,

you know, and it's just like, it was

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fun and it led to some conversation.

184

And there was, but there was interesting,

I was like, this piece is a piece

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of like That culvert that must've

washed down like From 200 yards ago.

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That means that like, there's

like a story behind each thing.

187

And when I was doing the, the sort

of inspired thing from Josh Spodek,

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one of our other guests, I found this

baby doll that I still have today that

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I found on the side of the highway.

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There was just this wonderful image

of this baby doll that has like a

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breathing apparatus and a thing.

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That's how it was formed.

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But it's actually like living in

this trash pile on the side of

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the highway with a breathing app,

like a scuba thing and goggles.

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And I was like, Oh, this is appropriate.

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Our children are needing to live in all

this trash with this, with this imagery.

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But, and I used to get my soccer

kids to like, we'd make so many games

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out of it and be like, okay, the

person gets to be in goal who gets

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me five or more pieces of trash first

from the park we're practicing in.

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Right.

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Like, and they had, it's so much fun

to just, I think personally, kids like

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to be involved and you know, we all

can't be archeologists these days.

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So it gives us something to do.

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I like it.

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Um, yeah.

206

So about the cigarette butt thing.

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Uh, it's estimated that each, uh,

second, about 13, 000 cigarette butts

208

are thrown on the floor every second.

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And, uh, to give some figure, um, in

the EU, 13 billion euros are spent every

210

year on, uh, littering efforts only.

211

Um, No, so yeah, just to say that the

thing about the jobs is like Maybe I'm

212

exaggerating a bit, but like saying I

commit a small crime so that there can

213

be more policemen And then I don't know.

214

It's my first time I hear this

comment, to be honest, even friends

215

of mine, I heard telling me that

like back in the day, or even today,

216

some of them joking, of course, but

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I guess that you don't walk

around with this jacket every day.

218

That was actually the first time.

219

Okay.

220

Yeah.

221

No, no, no.

222

Um, That's a really nice question.

223

Actually, my answer is not going

to be that probably inspiring.

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I've been always a normal guy.

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I always loved nature.

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That's for sure.

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I grew up in nature among other things.

228

Uh, you know, surrounded by in my

home, like on one side, there is

229

horses and then the other cows.

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So I was like, my first

word was moo, the cow noise.

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I swear to God, that was my first word.

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And, um, no, nothing really happened.

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Especially.

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I never trash, like I don't

use the trash even before.

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Uh, 2018 I start picking up litter,

but I reckon I reckon sometimes I

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flipped cigarettes on the floor.

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Uh, I'm a occasional smoker and

that I've done it, but I realized

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very quickly when once I picked

my first, uh, pieces of trash.

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That this will never happen ever again,

like as soon as I did my first cleaner,

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a click happened on me and I realized

that it was super dumb to do that.

241

And of course, the first

thing is never trash it.

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If you can also try to avoid

overconsumption, that's another thing.

243

And if, if you can just pick it

up, um, it doesn't cost much.

244

And even if it's just one or

two pieces, it counts and you

245

have been part of the solution.

246

And you're making things better.

247

You can also exercise because

you know, some people, uh, as you

248

mentioned, like, uh, stop looking

at the chrono and start plugging and

249

now they look at the number of bags.

250

So yeah, it's, uh, there are many

different angles where you can

251

see these actions and you can find

positiveness and good reasons to do that.

252

I believe.

253

What do you think?

254

What is using the

experience of your app like?

255

Like, I haven't had a

chance to look at it.

256

I'm in Canada and I don't

think it's available here.

257

What happens when someone downloads

your app and decides to use this to

258

make an impact in their community or

to pick up litter or get some exercise

259

or whatever it is they want to do?

260

What is that experience like?

261

Like, how does it work?

262

Right.

263

Great.

264

So, the app is very easy to use.

265

So, you need to go outside, um,

find some trashy area or Take some

266

photos of before and after your

cleanup and post it on the app.

267

The way you post it is very similar to

instagram where you have photos to add

268

you have a caption or description you

have A location but now in our app you

269

need to fill number of bags collected.

270

So you say for instance three bags

You select the size of each of the

271

bags, and it could be 50 liters or

in gallons, I don't know exactly,

272

but and then with that info, we

already have the volume, the cleanup.

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And that's one of the things we

measure volume in liters and weight

274

in kilograms, the weight we estimated

for you based on, um, over 50

275

cleanups that we on a scale measure.

276

And we had the liter.

277

And the kilos so we took a average

on that So people if you don't if you

278

don't have a hundred scale with you,

we estimated the weight But if you do

279

you can also type the exact amount and

that's pretty That's pretty much it.

280

You can also tag your friends.

281

So if we two clean together 20 kilos,

I just tag you And these 20 go 10

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and 10 for each of our profiles.

283

And why the app?

284

Uh, we do that to share, to

celebrate, uh, how much we clean.

285

You also have levels

in the app is gamified.

286

So the more you clean, the more you

level up your profile and you discover

287

endangered animals on the way.

288

So we have five levels.

289

We want to extend it now to 10 because

many people already passed the game.

290

You can say now we want to do,

we are in a moment where we

291

want to give more to the user.

292

So we want to do clean something

for nature as a, as an add on.

293

You don't only pick up litter,

but your kilos can mean.

294

Impact in another way.

295

So for instance, let's

put it one down example.

296

If you collect five kilos,

you can plant five trees.

297

That's where the question

of corporates came.

298

Um, I can explain their business

model, but that, that's what we

299

want to do now is like this person.

300

um, maybe you can, give us a

little bit more details about the

301

gamification that you provide to the

users, because , I believe , that for

302

the users to use your app again and

again, there's, there's, uh, some sort

303

of ideas of some of those in place.

304

Yeah, so basically you as a user, you have

control of all your impact, first of all.

305

So you see all your cleanups,

you see how many liters have you

306

picked up, you see a graphic of how

you evolve on your liter picking.

307

As I said, you have levels so you can

see your journey, how many, how many

308

badges, like levels you have completed.

309

So it gives you a sense of, uh, wow,

these little efforts that I do on my

310

weekends now are like 500 kilos of

litter collected and so many cleanups.

311

It gives you a sense of understanding.

312

This is small efforts have, have

a massive impact to give you some

313

figures that I forgot to say, which

is the most important now the app

314

has 4, 200 more 4, 200 cleanups.

315

And in total, that is 840 plus

tons of litter in, in 65 countries.

316

And this is all bag after bag.

317

We didn't use machines here.

318

It's just hand picking litter.

319

And that's it.

320

It's amazing.

321

I believe for me, it's

incredible to be part of this.

322

That is amazing.

323

That is amazing.

324

So you answered to one of my

question in which is in how many

325

countries your app is available.

326

So it's 64, you said 65 and we

are in Canada as well, Jennifer.

327

Although the app says 66, so

maybe it's more than that.

328

Well, I'm rushing to download

it right now, I guess.

329

I guess I didn't do my research.

330

That's great, thank you.

331

You must have, Clay, love a big

amount of data, interesting ones.

332

What do you do with that?

333

No, nothing.

334

We keep it safe, store, and encrypt it.

335

Yeah, no, no, it's true.

336

We don't use any advertisement.

337

We don't, we just keep it safe.

338

We, we, it's in the cloud.

339

I mean, it's a normal standards

and yeah, but we, we have the data

340

and we try to open it to everybody.

341

So that means we have a, an open map.

342

Everybody can click on every cleanup

so you can see the photos and the

343

description of all the 4, 200 cleanups.

344

If you want to, uh, um, you have

also a ranking with the top litter

345

pickers of your country, the ranking

or worldwide, you can see that stats,

346

those stats monthly as well in the app,

everything pretty visual and simple.

347

You can also go to the people's profile

and have a look at what they are doing,

348

where are they cleaning, how much,

and maybe you can connect with them.

349

Eventually, if you look at your area

and you find somebody picking up litter

350

there, you might want to contact him.

351

And then, yeah, maybe cling together

and make friends and make friends.

352

Why not?

353

I don't know if the recruits,

but, you know, just, just the

354

way I'm thinking about it.

355

So have you, have you sort of had that

kind of experience where people are

356

like, Hey dude, yeah, pick your leader.

357

I don't wanna be, you know, just 'cause

there's a feeling of sort of, uh,

358

self-conscious shame associated with

it, you know, and, and stuff like that.

359

Yeah.

360

Yeah.

361

Thank you.

362

Lavan?

363

Yes.

364

Uh, not too much, but I have felt

that really when I organize cleanups,

365

otherwise I don't, I never s.

366

See that almost on my Instagram feed

because the people we normally follow are

367

people like minded that pick up litter.

368

But when I organize cleanups, um, some

occasions happen that some people came and

369

what you could tell, they weren't feeling

good, they were on, not on the right mood.

370

And therefore, if you are not in

the correct mindset, this experience

371

can be very, very bad, uh, very bad,

honestly, like who would like to With the

372

mindset of this is someone else's job.

373

I'm not even being paid.

374

And no matter how much you're paid,

probably, even if you get some

375

pennies, you never feel satisfied.

376

Probably right.

377

If you think about the in this sense.

378

Yeah.

379

Some people.

380

That's interesting.

381

I mean, cause later on the streets

of Nigeria, it's one of two things.

382

Most likely you're either, you

either work to pick litter or offense

383

and you were just served community

service and they probably just

384

asked you to go pick little bits.

385

And so if I'm picking it, I'm

like, Hey, I don't want you to

386

look like I did something wrong.

387

You know, um, um, when it's a community

effort is usually very, Um, it's easy

388

just cause everyone's doing it as well.

389

So it's clearly a community effort.

390

You know, when it's like, it's

just me and I'm picking leaders

391

like, Hey dude, you're good.

392

Um, I do, it doesn't happen all the time.

393

That's funny culturally

how that works though.

394

Like think about it where

I, where I live in Canada.

395

It's very much more so like community

groups will say, Hey, we're all going

396

to go on Saturday to the ravine and

we're going to pick litter together.

397

And it's like a community bonding

activity and it's altruistic

398

and it's all of these things.

399

It's such a different experience.

400

It's so interesting.

401

But that's why we need this app.

402

This is why we need community and we need

gamification and we need feeling good

403

about things and we, we need your app.

404

That's what this is all about really.

405

I think Athena has a very

interesting question.

406

I know that César saw it, but maybe

you can ask and share the answer,

407

uh, share the question and then

share the answer with our listeners.

408

Yeah, I, uh, well, First, I wanted

to comment on a lick is, uh, the job

409

situation for the street cleaners.

410

I think there is a plenty

of street cleaning from the.

411

Leaves and other dirt that is not to

litter that they, I think their job

412

is secured, but, but what I was asking

about, uh, um, if you separate cleaning

413

in this nature and in the city and your

app and, uh, because I remember many,

414

many years ago, uh, there was a study

done where the neighborhoods, uh, that

415

had high crime, they, uh, Local people

started cleaning, uh, trash and, uh, from

416

the streets, and, uh, crime went down.

417

So, I was just wondering if, what

do you think about that, Cesar?

418

I think it's mega interesting.

419

I didn't know about it.

420

But another great reason to

like another great reason to say

421

that, um, so about the separating

cleaning in the nature and the city.

422

We don't have this, uh,

process to differentiate, but

423

every cleanup is geotagged.

424

That means it has a coordinate

as an exact location in a map.

425

So, eventually, if we manage to

gather a map or an information

426

that can tell us what is considered

city was considered nature.

427

And we can cross that we can easily

obtain this differentiation So eventually

428

it's possible to do and I think it will

be very interesting to do also if we

429

manage to understand But we I don't

know if we have that much data in a

430

locally Uh concentrated, but that will

be super interesting to see also the this

431

outcome of Reducing crime, also reducing

cleaning services costs, improving the

432

well being of people who walk there.

433

It's like a happy place to walk

and to live and to raise your kids.

434

Everybody wants to live in

a clean place, I believe.

435

I think that's right.

436

Well, Cesar, I had, you know,

sort of an interesting question.

437

I had looked on the app.

438

And to Christina's point, I can say that

here in New York, New York City, um,

439

there was a former mayor who really,

you know, championed a kind of concept

440

of like clean, you know, let's stop

all the little petty crimes and clean

441

up the litter and all this stuff.

442

And that will cascade into.

443

Reducing larger medium

crimes and larger crimes.

444

And I think it's broadly credited

as having worked this is, you know,

445

15, 20 years ago, but I was, I was

interestingly looking in your app and

446

saw no tags in New York city, like,

which I was sort of surprised me of,

447

you know, so many millions of people.

448

Um, and then I dug a little bit into some

of the data because you actually, it's so

449

available and I found it so interesting.

450

Where your user base has taken

off is very geographically, like

451

across the globe, it's very diverse.

452

I mean, you've got some mega user bases

in places like Chile, and Germany, and

453

Israel, and India, and like, just very,

like, there's There's not just like a,

454

uh, a geographic like hot zone per se,

but there are some places where it's

455

clearly taken off more than others.

456

And I was curious of your thoughts, right?

457

So if we think about, as Jennifer

said, the gamification and using the

458

app as a way of, like, pulling people

together and sort of, you know, Adding

459

some fun and competitiveness to it in

fun ways that encourages this behavior.

460

Are there any thoughts that you have

for our audience who's, you know, hears

461

about it, goes, grabs the app and goes

and starts using the app about how they

462

spread the word about it and how they get

that, that sort of like local, get the

463

snowball growing, uh, in their local area.

464

Wow.

465

Thank you so much, Brian, also

for doing that, uh, taking

466

the map is absolutely correct.

467

What everything you say, yeah,

there are so many things I would

468

like to answer, but, uh, it's true.

469

Uh, geographically we have, you

know, users from everywhere.

470

We started with the app

avail open to all countries.

471

It's now available in English,

French and Spanish language.

472

Um, and you, you asked me about.

473

What was the, the, then the second?

474

Oh, so if, if I'm in, so I'm, I am, I'm

your newest user located in New York.

475

How might, in addition to, I'm

going to have fun doing the first

476

geotag in New York city, by the

way, like I'm, I've got this.

477

Um, after that, how do I go, any

tips for people like myself who.

478

Like how they might go get

other people excited about it.

479

Like, are there any like ways ideas about

competitions or, you know, Jen, you were

480

mentioning like weekend things with your

co workers or your community, like any

481

tips about how you use the app to sort of

introduce it into those kind of, um, you

482

know, um, mean spreading kind of ways.

483

Yes, yes, yes, definitely.

484

Um, we have one section inside

the app called challenges.

485

And that's kind of the fun gamification

part where you can join efforts with

486

other people from either your region.

487

So you can have a challenge

only for your region.

488

Let's say New York City, we could do that.

489

We could say, okay, the New

York City cleanup challenge.

490

Let's make in one month.

491

Um, let's invite everybody to

pick up five pieces of litter.

492

Every day, something like this, you know,

and you could very easily share this

493

challenge on social media because with one

click, you can definitely share the link.

494

It has a deep link inside.

495

So that means everybody who click it

will end up eventually on your challenge,

496

whether they have the app or not,

whether they use Android or iPhone.

497

So that's one of the ways.

498

Also, you can, as a user,

share your own clean apps.

499

And so people, if they see the photo,

when you share your cleanup on our app

500

in, for instance, Twitter or WhatsApp,

you can see a thumbnail with your

501

main photo and a small description

inviting them to join the CSFN app

502

and start to make a difference.

503

So, yeah, for now, those two are.

504

Are available, but we keep on thinking.

505

We keep on, uh, yeah, I'm thinking how to

make it even better and more attractive

506

to everybody, always with a very positive

approach, never pointing out who's the

507

problem, who's guilty for that more, more

towards solution and very, as I said,

508

solution, positiveness, uh, oriented.

509

And if you have ideas, please let us know

because that's that's what made us go this

510

far people who are there That's great.

511

And and I think within that like I can

go issue a challenge as just me Brian

512

but is there also the ability to sort

of like do it for my company and sort

513

of like if I got my Company to say,

okay, we're going to do a challenge

514

to our employees or to our customers.

515

Like, can I do that too?

516

Yes, correctly.

517

Yeah, that's correct.

518

Um, we have different kinds of profiles.

519

Um, what we were, what we have

discussed now is the individual profile.

520

Each of us can have one, but

then there is group profiles and

521

for groups, it can be a school.

522

Can be a company and also it can be

a municipality because we have also

523

municipalities inside the app who promote

this tool as a, as an answer to littering,

524

as a sitting citizen engagement tool

to spread the, yeah, awareness through

525

the information about littering and

also action, action through the app.

526

Um, so yes, companies can definitely

create a group as a company and then They

527

can internally among their volunteers,

uh, the volunteers, their employees who

528

become volunteers to clean up litter.

529

Um, yeah, gathered together.

530

So the group is a big, a big umbrella

and all the efforts of the volunteers

531

who are in New York, but it can be

all over the U S are falling under the

532

same group, and then you can extract

reports directly from the app in PDF

533

that tells you how many clean house

participants, kilograms, all of that info.

534

Okay.

535

It's a CSR tool, actually, for

volunteering with corporate.

536

That's great.

537

I'm excited.

538

I can see elementary

schools wanting that, too.

539

Yeah, actually, we don't have schools

yet, but that exists, so they can join in.

540

Um, yeah, it's definitely

good, and we would like to do

541

leagues among different classes.

542

Like, yeah, the, the, the primary

school, uh, X, X, Y, Z league.

543

So people, so all the classrooms get

together and they see how many kilos or

544

cleanups each of the classroom has done.

545

And they can see the total

collected from, from all over.

546

The primary school, many,

many, many ways are there.

547

And we want to make the best possible

app and the most useful for the people.

548

But we are two friends, Lester and me.

549

Lester is the mastermind behind

the development of the app.

550

And yeah, we are limited in

resources, I'm not going to lie.

551

But we have a lot of ambition to keep

working on it and get it out there.

552

Maybe, you know, you can say

a few words about the business

553

model of your app, if you want to.

554

Yeah, thank you.

555

Yes, sure.

556

So as Brian said a little bit, companies

can create a profile in the app and

557

they can clean With their employees.

558

I usually do that with them in Luxembourg

whenever they want to do a team building

559

clean up I am there to explain also to

give a bit more Insights about littering

560

to explain and how to short the litter

and also to bring a nice vibe out of

561

it because that's super important to

Have a nice experience make it fun.

562

We play some music on the on the

way So companies can definitely join

563

the app, they just need to fill up

a form and we will receive it and

564

then we get in contact with them, get

the profile set for them and all the

565

guidelines needed to run the cleanup.

566

And I was saying that very

soon we will have other way of

567

collaborating for companies, less

active, but still valuable, which

568

is by helping us help our users.

569

So how is that?

570

For instance, you clean five kilos of

litter, and this company is gonna, you can

571

think about plant five trees, but you can

think also about a coral reef restoration,

572

or you can think about, yeah, you name it.

573

It's clean something for nature

spin off within the app, so that

574

companies can also fund with money the

plantation of trees, and users like us.

575

Each one of us can do even more good with

what is already good, which is speaking

576

up later, but we can really prove it.

577

Like I clean five kilos and these are

the five trees that are, have been

578

planted thanks to this pattern company X.

579

This is.

580

Something that still hasn't

been developed, but I tell

581

you now that it's been cooked.

582

Uh, we, I'll mention, we just did a

post for my work for Earth Day where

583

we did a program and it's been, I

think we're at 18 years now that we

584

launched a, a go pay paperless campaign

when, you know, that was before

585

everything was so easy to be digital.

586

It was, you know, when people

wanted to receive a paper report,

587

but we said to our customers, if

you order one of our reports, And

588

you receive it just digitally.

589

You forgo the paper version and us

putting it in the mail and whatnot.

590

Then we'll plant a tree

for every one of those.

591

And we've planted more trees than is in

Central Park, more than 25, 000 trees, you

592

know, in Central Park here in New York.

593

And it's, and it's been

interesting because.

594

It actually incentivized our customers

to like want to be engaged with us

595

and like be excited about seeing the

progress of that and I'm very excited

596

for this idea that you have of, of

allowing a company to sort of like

597

do an extra good on the on the tag on

to what your user is doing as a good

598

because I think it gives that opportunity

where It's like in many charities where

599

you're like raising money and there's

a, a two for one match right now.

600

You know, some, someone is sponsoring a

two for 1 you donate a hundred dollars.

601

It will be matched.

602

It's like you go clean some

litter and the litter is clean

603

and the coral reef is safe.

604

So I maybe not safe,

but positively impacted.

605

I don't know if we're, our

coral reefs are safe right now.

606

Uh, but anyway, I think that's a really

great idea and I can see, you know,

607

many companies really supporting that.

608

Thank you.

609

I'm hoping that.

610

Do you think that as well?

611

Yeah.

612

Well, and I think for our listeners,

Jen had suggested this, but for our

613

listeners, there's probably going to be

a lot of them out there who hear this

614

and have either questions or ideas or

resources, or they're at a school and

615

they're interested and excited and stuff.

616

So I think we would encourage

them to check out our show notes.

617

And they'll find information

for your website.

618

And if you're open to it, say

there may be even like some direct

619

contact information to reach out.

620

Yes.

621

And correspond with you on this line.

622

Thank you for, for bringing that up.

623

I am very open and willing to

chat and discuss with anybody.

624

Um, you can write me an email at info

at clean something for nothing dot com.

625

Or you can do that through

any of our social medias.

626

I am behind them.

627

So I will receive your messages.

628

You can say that you have listened

carbon sessions, and then I will know a

629

bit more where you where you came from.

630

Yeah, I'll be very happy to assist

you on any question you may have.

631

And here you're.

632

Your feedback.

633

And also I invite you all to clean

that, to, to, to join the app, um, clean

634

something for nothing or CSFN, you can

type also four letters, CSFN, um, yeah.

635

And just download it and start making

a nice impact in your neighborhood.

636

You're about to get a geotag

from downtown Toronto.

637

Give me about an hour or so.

638

If there's none in Paris, I will do it.

639

Oh, I love it, Leaky.

640

I think Leaky, you should do it

whether there are any in Paris or not.

641

Actually, no, no, I will do it in Paris,

but I'm going to Normandy next, next week.

642

And so I'm going to, I'm going to

use your app next week in Normandy.

643

So yeah.

644

Thank you.

645

Thank you so much.

646

That was great.

647

It was wonderful.

648

Thank you.

649

Yeah.

650

Thank you, Cesar.

651

That was fantastic.

652

Thank you, everybody.

653

I really enjoyed this.

654

Really.

655

Thank you.

656

You've been listening to Carbon Sessions.

657

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658

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659

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660

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661

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662

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663

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664

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665

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666

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667

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668

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670

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