Wait until DNA reading gets cheap enough to be used for this. Then we can downgrade the social credit scores of litterers.
Most of the people I see litter in SF already have zero social credit and don't look like they're trying to earn any.
We picked up, tracked, and analyzed 130k pieces of litter in SF
41–50 of 134 posts
Re: We picked up, tracked, and analyzed 130k pieces of litter in SF
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
Tokyo has almost no public trashcans. And the crowds are significantly larger than SF, and it's significantly cleaner in Tokyo (at least from what I've seen).
Absolutely. I think litter is entirely a cultural/social issue. It might be a little trite but I sometimes think the Eastern approach of Shame is more effective than the Western approach of Guilt in curbing small social transgressions.
Correct. A trip to India def was eye opening in regards to the litter culture over there.
Re: We picked up, tracked, and analyzed 130k pieces of litter in SF
#43I used to wonder what caused the crazy amount of litter in SF. After working in SOMA for years, I believe the vast majority is due to people rummaging through trash cans in search of food/recyclables/whatever, often dumping the entire contents directly onto the sidewalk. I've seen this more times than I can count. More trash cans would be great, but they absolutely won't fix the problem when people regularly empty th…
There is a school of thought that less trash cans reduces litter. I am a little skeptical of the idea but I see the point.
Re: We picked up, tracked, and analyzed 130k pieces of litter in SF
#44Curious, did you also remove chewing gum from the streets? And is this in the "food" category? I would expect the numbers for food to be higher than for tobacco then.
Do people still chew gum?
Re: We picked up, tracked, and analyzed 130k pieces of litter in SF
#45Cigarette butts seem to be the most common by count , but what about weight and volume? On the streets of NYC, I don't really notice the cigarettes, but I do notice the enormous amount of plastic bags (much of it stuck in trees), plastic or paper cups, straws, takeout containers. And gum. If you ever look at a sidewalk and see dark splotches [1], that's discarded chewing gum. It's absolutely everywhere. Not as invasi…
SF makes NYC look like Disneyland.
Re: We picked up, tracked, and analyzed 130k pieces of litter in SF
#46This was a fascinating read. I'm surprised tobacco is the number 1 litter. I rarely see people smoking anymore where I live, so I would assume it would not be a top contributor to litter. Is smoking still very prevalent in San Fransisco?
Every smoker is producing 20 to 40 pieces of litter per day -- every butt that gets tossed.
Re: We picked up, tracked, and analyzed 130k pieces of litter in SF
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't have a reference, but I believe coffee cups are assumed to be recyclable even though actually, and in most part due to the polyethylene-lined inside, they are not.
And here I am thinking it was a wax lining. Why would you a plastic lining for something you put hot liquid in, which would cause leeching? (Not that was doesn't have issues, aka melting)
Try putting some hot water in a "cup" you make from paper and you may find that the thin plastic barrier makes some functional sense.
I agree however, that I'd rather just use re-usable glass or metal cup (with a handle or suitable insulated wrappping) and avoid the potential for hot liquids leaching things out of plastic!
Re: We picked up, tracked, and analyzed 130k pieces of litter in SF
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
Tokyo has almost no public trashcans. And the crowds are significantly larger than SF, and it's significantly cleaner in Tokyo (at least from what I've seen).
It's more a culture thing in Japan. If you're Japanese, and litter, you will get shamed by passersby so hard that you'll never do it again. People in the US won't do that nearly as often, and people in the US aren't as affected by shame as much as people in Japan.
Maybe we should do this :)
Re: We picked up, tracked, and analyzed 130k pieces of litter in SF
#49I used to wonder what caused the crazy amount of litter in SF. After working in SOMA for years, I believe the vast majority is due to people rummaging through trash cans in search of food/recyclables/whatever, often dumping the entire contents directly onto the sidewalk. I've seen this more times than I can count. More trash cans would be great, but they absolutely won't fix the problem when people regularly empty th…
There is a school of thought that less trash cans reduces litter. I am a little skeptical of the idea but I see the point.
In Japan, there are no trash cans and people take their litter with them.
In Disneyland, there was more litter until they put trashcans everywhere.
Re: We picked up, tracked, and analyzed 130k pieces of litter in SF
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
Tokyo has almost no public trashcans. And the crowds are significantly larger than SF, and it's significantly cleaner in Tokyo (at least from what I've seen).
You can't really use Japan as a model for any place outside of Japan. You can't make San Francisco's residents behave like Tokyo's any more than you can make Ruth Bader Ginsburg the left tackle for the Dallas Cowboys.
Both are big cities with people in them. Not sure why one can't learn from the other and vice-versa.