Types of Litter at Griffith Park Main Trail

Hi Friends!

Last March, I returned to college to receive my Associate’s to Transfer in Geography at Pasadena City College in Southern California. My geography professor, who is so great, recommended taking a GIS (Geographic Information Systems) course, which I will officially complete next week. For our final project, we had to create three maps based on what we learned, and because I am an overachiever, I decided to collect data of my own.

To start, I collected data on a half-mile loop, which you can view below.

ArcGIS x Griffith Park Litter copy.png

The total amount of trash pieces collected was 399, with the breakdown as follows:

  • Glass Bottle: 2

  • Misc Trash (Paper + Balloons): 233

  • Plastic Bags + Wrappers: 136

  • Plastic Drinking Containers: 27

  • Poop Bags: 1

Reflection: I realized the amount of poop bags significantly decreased due to the number of trash cans available, but the paper, balloons, and plastic bags increased due to the proximity to the freeway and the picnic areas.

To walk you through my thought process, the initial categories were determined based on items commonly found on my cleanups. However, I did not consider how the items would vary based on where I was in the park. For example, I did not take into account paper products, styrofoam, or balloons, all of which were very common in the misc trash category. As such, for the second map, I would divide by substrate versus items.

ArcGIS x Griffith Park Litter.gif

The total amount of trash pieces collected was 744, with the breakdown as follows:

  • Glass: 10

  • Misc Substrate: 75

  • Paper: 203

  • Plastic: 439

  • Styrofoam: 17

Reflections: The litter is denser on the west side of the map due to the lack of trash cans and the proximity.

Fast Facts About Litter Decomposition

  • Paper napkins and towels can take 2-4 weeks to decompose.

  • Cotton shirts can take 2-5 months to decompose.

  • Cigarette filters take 1-5 years to decompose.

  • Aluminum cans can take up to, if not more than, 200 years to decompose.

  • Plastic can take anywhere from 20 to 500 years to decompose, varying on the type and structure of the plastic. For example, a plastic fork can take up to 200 years.

Casha DoemlandOn The Trail, Griffith ParkComment