This project began when one of our members who works in data thought it would be fun to record the volume and location of litter collected.
Since November of 2023 we have been recording data on the total number of bags, total weight (kg), total litres and location of litter collected from our Litter Picking initiative. Collecting the data enables us to compare month-over-month and year-over-year stats, identify regions in the town that may have been overlooked, focus on problematic regions, quantify the impact that we are having, and boost engagement by turning the litter picking experience into a competition between individuals or teams.
Each bag is weighed, photographed and the approximate location of the collection is recorded before it is added to the database. The database is then converted into a map, showing the approximate collection location of each bag and highlighting our most active litter picking areas as well as areas that might need additional attention.
What began as a fun way of reinvigorating our litter picking has highlighted areas we had been unwittingly neglecting. Based on this data, we are now making informed decisions about where to litter pick. Over a 12 month period, we hope it will allow us to view trends in litter (weekend vs midweek, school time vs holidays) and base our work on our observations of the data.
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