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2017 Autumn | Education & Outreach, Sustainability

Optimization of Urban Waste Design: Ground Truth Data Collection of Urban Litter

Student(s):

Sydney Barnes-Grant

Program or Department(s):

  • Program on the Environment
  • University of Washington

Site supervisor(s):

Margaret McCauley

Partner(s):

  • United States Environmental Protection Agency, Region 10

Faculty advisor(s):

Yen-Chu Weng, Program on the Environment, University of Washington

I worked for a program called Trash Free Waters for the EPA Region 10’s office. The goal of this program is to eliminate U.S. contributions to marine debris by employing upstream waste prevention solutions. 80% of marine debris comes from land sources, primarily litter via urban runoff, storm drains, and air travel. The purpose of this project is to define criteria for public bin placement to most effectively prevent litter from accumulating on land and in effect reduce contributions to aquatic trash.