Program on the Environment

Citizen science is a form of science that allows those who aren’t in the research field to get involve in data collection and analyst. Projects can range across different fields and produce important results to be utilized for further research, especially in the environmental field. However there has not been an attempt to connect the data gathered from citizen science projects into policies. The purpose of this research was to analyze data gathered from EPA Region 10’s partnership with Zero Waste Washington to implement the EPA draft Escape Trash Assessment Protocol to better understand the data implications for monitoring aspect of the Clean Water Act (CWA) and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). To accomplish this, all the sites of data collection via ArcGIS to better understand the spatial distribution to trash accumulation in relation to waterways access. Data on materials collected, volunteers ratios and size area at each sites were used to compare against each others for analysis. Findings shows that sites with closer proximity to waterways have less trash accumulation. Urban areas have higher trash accumulation, with cigarettes and single-use plastic items being the most popular finds. The data found were useful for CWA, but lack of details failed analysis for RCRA. However, the data illustrates that citizen science can be an effective tool to gather data to better inform policies and permits. Thus citizen science can be a way to educate community, as well politically engaging individuals about different environmental issues.