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We picked up, tracked, and analyzed 130k pieces of litter in SF

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Re: We picked up, tracked, and analyzed 130k pieces of litter in SF

#101

Post by agota »

cies wrote: post #95

I played with the thought that municipalities should hold the producers of the product (packaging) that can be foud in the streets responsible for the cleanup cost. Some kind of data needs to be collected by a team like this team an based on that data the offending brands get bills. Besides that I think littering could benefit from heavy fines, the same way speeding tickets helped with traffic safety. Basically a nea…

Why would you hold the companies that produce the products responsible when they have no control over what someone does with the packaging of their products?

Re: We picked up, tracked, and analyzed 130k pieces of litter in SF

#102

Post by IfOnlyYouKnew »

vcdimension wrote: post #13
EminIsrafil wrote: post #2

It’s inspiring to see that picking up litter consistently had a big impact on a neighborhood. We were also surprised to see the strong effect the California Camp Fires had on litter. Hope you enjoy! Background: My friends, Elena and Felipe, and I have been picking up litter 3x per week on Polk Street for year now. We logged all the litter we picked up to see what we can find. After a year picking up we decided to see…

Have you seen this project: http://thecrowbox.com/ and this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8lZ4I-UamM Maybe we could train squirrels too..

I've seen this, and it is rather sad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iux2OV3w4NI

Re: We picked up, tracked, and analyzed 130k pieces of litter in SF

#103

Post by IfOnlyYouKnew »

Roritharr wrote: post #93
fnord77 wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think SF gets that concentrated urine stench because it doesn't rain 2/3rds out of the year so the sidewalks never get cleansed. NYC would stink just as bad if it didn't rain all summer. Maybe worse because of the higher population density.

And then people here wonder why some desperately don't want to live in a big city.

It's not like the smell of feces, albeit of animal origin, isn't one of the most salient features of rural living.

And any meat processing facilities within a five mile radius will quickly make you pay attention to wind direction forecasts.

Re: We picked up, tracked, and analyzed 130k pieces of litter in SF

#104

Post by IfOnlyYouKnew »

cies wrote: post #95

I played with the thought that municipalities should hold the producers of the product (packaging) that can be foud in the streets responsible for the cleanup cost. Some kind of data needs to be collected by a team like this team an based on that data the offending brands get bills. Besides that I think littering could benefit from heavy fines, the same way speeding tickets helped with traffic safety. Basically a nea…

25 cents deposits on cans and bottles did wonders in Germany. You can leave them anywhere in the city and they'll be gone within five minutes. This also turned out to be a surprisingly effective, although somewhat sad, wealth redistribution scheme.

It's unfortunately not realistic to do for every kind of wrapper. Although maybe a weight-based rough measurement might work: I. e. a cents/gram of packaging, and your recycling is spot-checked for contamination. It seems slightly too convoluted, invasive, and draconian even for me, a German green. But might be a possible application of AI ("estimate the number of product wrappings in this heap").

Re: We picked up, tracked, and analyzed 130k pieces of litter in SF

#105

Post by IfOnlyYouKnew »

NeedMoreTea wrote: post #59
pbhjpbhj wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are they all? I've always assumed they were plastic, surprised this hasn't been raised to my notice before, eg in advertising "our cigarettes are entirely compostable" or something.

I suspect filling them with tar and other gunk from the burnt tobacco puts them closer to hazardous waste than nicely compostable.

Tar, and other tobacco detritus, isn't really dangerous: The asphalt it's lying on is actually very similar, chemically.

Cigarette butts without the filter are easily degraded organic (carbon) compounds. You can compost them and will get perfectly acceptable potting soil.

Same story for the various additives. As a rule, anything that has a physiological effect and isn't a heavy metal is biodegradable.

Re: We picked up, tracked, and analyzed 130k pieces of litter in SF

#106

Post by IfOnlyYouKnew »

Consultant32452 wrote: post #52
phil248 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I'm imagining a future where you can inject drugs using govt provided syringes while defecating in the street no problem, but if you drop a cigarette butt we'll track you down and arrest you for littering.

Government-run programs almost always take the form of needle exchanges. By requiring their return, they actually prevent littering.

Re: We picked up, tracked, and analyzed 130k pieces of litter in SF

#107

Post by IfOnlyYouKnew »

johnzim wrote: post #27
lxe wrote: post #17

Earlier 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.

Shame and guilt are really two sides of the same medal, aren't they? As in: guilt is evolutionary internalised avoidance of shame.

And, yes, it's an extremely strong mechanism. Most emotions are basically evolutionary implementations of government: shame -> criminal law, pity -> social safety net, etc.

Shaming is getting a bad rep these days, but it's essentially the least invasive method a society has to enforce common standards of decency.

Re: We picked up, tracked, and analyzed 130k pieces of litter in SF

#108

Post by IfOnlyYouKnew »

mikekchar wrote: post #85
lxe wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both are big cities with people in them. Not sure why one can't learn from the other and vice-versa.

Japan is culturally very different. Every Japanese person is taught at school how to act in society. Cultural values are instilled there. In the west we believe that parents should have the last say on how to bring up children. In Japan, teachers have the last say. Teachers go to students' homes to make sure it is an acceptable environment for the student. If it is not, parents are required to take classes on how to…

If the cliché is to be believed, there are some downsides to this level of obedience, such as stifling people in their most creative years, or really any opposite of one would expect a meritocracy to achieve. Some would probably consider your description of parent-teacher relations to be borderline dystopian.

I really wonder if those societal traits are necessarily linked, i. e. by being opposite ends of a spectrum of selfishness. It would seem entirely practical not to litter and also not expect people to mindlessly follow orders (in life and at work) based on the completely arbitrary hierarchy of age (/ gender).

Re: We picked up, tracked, and analyzed 130k pieces of litter in SF

#109

Post by maccard »

twic wrote: post #31
gdulli wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my city, cigarettes and scratch-off lottery tickets seem to be the things that people don't feel any particular need to dispose of properly.

Cigarette butts, lottery tickets, and coffee cups - the detritus of addiction. Is there a connection there?

Yes - disposable/single use items.

Re: We picked up, tracked, and analyzed 130k pieces of litter in SF

#110

Post by maccard »

newnewpdro wrote: post #100
pbhjpbhj wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do people still chew gum?

It's often the most convenient form of breathe odor control available. I keep a pack of gum in my car at all times just in case I have a drink socializing somewhere. Having alcoholic beverages on your breath when you get pulled over for something unrelated can make the experience far more annoying, unnecessarily.

You could keep mints instead of gum? My parents kept gum in the car for a long time, and every time I took some it was always stale.
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