Philadelphia sent trained staff – people – out to walk and drive around every neighborhood in the city to assess litter conditions. From this walkabout, a map based 
Litter Index was developed that lets everyone see what ‘grade’ their neighborhood received.
The Litter Index gives a 1-4 litter rating based on metrics from Keep America Beautiful, with a rating of 1 being little-to-no litter, 2 being litter in the amount that can be picked up by one person, 3 being litter in the amount that would need a team to clean-up, and 4 being litter that would require a large cleanup effort. The map is color coordinated to easily show litter/ cleanliness levels with green for cleanest areas, and dark red representing the most littered areas.
Big deal you say.
Yes, big deal!
The city, like many of its peer cities, has set a goal of zero waste. To get to that goal all of the citizenry needs to be engaged and knowledgeable, and needs to take action in and responsibility for their neighborhoods. Setting a baseline from which to measure lets us all see how we are doing in cleaning up the city – you can’t improve something that you can’t measure.
So what can you do?
- Start at your house or apartment and sweep up the outside.
- Recycle right. Join Philadelphia’s Recyclebank program – PHILACYCLE so you can get rewards for your efforts. Get yourself a blue recycle bin and look up
what does and doesn’t go into the bin. - Start composting your food scraps and waste and your yard waste.
- Reduce your own personal waste. Try participating in GreenBeams’ One-Bag-A-Week-Challenge.
- Take a look at your neighborhood’s grade on the Litter Index map; mine got a 4 which is best but when I look around I can clearly see there is room for improvement.
- Talk to your neighbors about organizing a clean-up and then on-going clean-ups for your block. The Litter Index website has all kinds of resources for community organizing.
It’s the city’s goal that the Litter Index be the tool that allows all neighborhoods to strive for zero litter. Use it. Get with your neighbors and act locally – together we will all get to the goal and have a cleaner, healthier city.
