The plain-language rules for contributions, report pools, safe participation, evidence review, disputes, refunds, and cleaner rewards.
Effective September 30, 2026
A logged-in member may add $1 to $1,000 of principal per transaction to an active, eligible report. Litterbugs adds one service fee per checkout and shows the principal, fee, and total before payment. Existing payments and pending payment attempts keep their original fee and total. Selecting “No contribution now” creates no fee. Contributions are not charitable donations and are not represented as tax deductible.
The cleaner reward shows only the contributed principal. An approved cleaner receives that exact frozen principal. Litterbugs keeps the service fee and absorbs standard payment, payout, refund, and chargeback costs.
A report remains active for 30 days. Its reporter may actively renew it for another 30 days, with no fixed limit on active renewals. Contributions may continue for as long as the report remains active.
When the report expires, it leaves the active map. The reporter has seven days to renew it, carrying the entire pool forward, or close it for refunds. Taking no action during those seven days closes the report and starts refunds.
When an eligible cleaner claims a report, contributions stop and any funded reward is frozen for that attempt. The cleaner has 24 hours to complete the cleanup and submit evidence. A reporter may clean their own report and receive its reward, but the same review, dispute, and administrator rules apply.
Cleaners must be at least 18 and explicitly accept each new version of the Cleanup Safety, Assumption of Risk, and Funded Reward Acknowledgment. Acceptance is saved for that document version. Every claim requires a separate confirmation that the site can be cleaned safely and legally. Funded cleaners must satisfy the country and payout eligibility requirements shown during setup.
Submit one to three clear after photos that show the reported place and completed work. Include another angle when one image cannot show the result. Reusing an original report photo, showing an unrelated location, manipulating evidence, or submitting fraudulent or misleading photos is prohibited.
Do not include unnecessary faces, license plates, private documents, or other personal information. Keep original evidence available until the cleanup, dispute period, and any review are complete.
Google Gemini performs the initial structured review of eligible report and cleanup photos. It may accept the evidence for the next workflow step, request better photos, flag possible hazards or manipulation, or send ambiguity to a human administrator. Gemini never independently releases money or makes a final legal, safety, employment, fraud, refund, or dispute decision.
A funded cleaner may receive two requests for better photos. A third inconclusive result is sent to an administrator rather than creating unlimited retries. System failures, suspicious evidence, possible hazards, and ambiguous results may also be escalated.
After the evidence passes, the reporter has up to 48 hours to approve the cleanup or dispute it. Reporter approval ends the remaining dispute window and allows protected payout processing to begin once every other required review and eligibility check has passed. If the reporter does nothing, the cleanup is automatically approved when the 48-hour window expires. An open dispute pauses the reward.
An authorized administrator reviews the relevant before and after evidence, Gemini findings, cleaner explanation and history, report, payment state, reporter reason, and audit record. Administrators record a reason for financial and rejection actions.
After reporter approval or automatic approval at the end of the 48-hour window, and after all required reviews, Litterbugs processes the frozen principal through Stripe Connect. The cleaner's first paid cleanup receives a lightweight administrator check. A displayed reward is not guaranteed until every evidence, dispute, administrator, fraud, reconciliation, and Stripe eligibility requirement is satisfied.
Stripe provides hosted identity, tax-information, bank, and payout setup. Stripe or Litterbugs may delay or withhold payment when required by law, sanctions, identity requirements, provider rules, fraud controls, disputes, or reconciliation. Cleaners are responsible for determining and reporting taxes related to rewards.
Litterbugs returns each contributor's complete original charge—including the principal and service fee—when the reporter closes an expired report, takes no action during the seven-day decision window, or the contribution remains unused for 23 months.
Refunds return to the original payment method and may take provider-dependent time to appear. A successful contribution cannot be refunded solely because a contributor changes their mind while the report remains active. Failed refunds are held for administrator attention and bounded retry.
Cleaners choose whether, when, and how to attempt a cleanup within the claim and evidence rules. They are independent participants, not employees or agents of Litterbugs. They supply their own transportation, tools, protective equipment, and disposal arrangements and are responsible for following applicable laws and property rules.
Cleanup activity has real-world risks. The pre-claim acknowledgment explains the assumption of risk and release that applies to voluntary participation. Do not attempt any cleanup that is unsafe, unlawful, requires specialized training, or is beyond your ability.
For a cleanup, contribution, reward, dispute, or refund question, contact Litterbugs at support@litterbugs.app.
