Exploratory Data Analysis of Earth Day 2022 Litter Data

Many of you have already seen our maps showing the total accumulation of litter data recorded by our community. However, today’s map spotlights the 57,567 pieces of litter recorded this Earth Day, 22nd April 2022, by nine hundred members of our Litterati community across twenty-five countries! In a single day, there was a spike in activity across North America, Europe, and even some parts of Asia. In fact, the majority of this data was collected in the United States (37,462), Belgium (4,905), the Netherlands (2,647), Singapore (2,186), and India (1,447).?

There are many different ways to visualize the Earth Day ‘22 Litter Dataset. The Litterati Taxonomy is a standardized labeling system that helps users and our Machine Learning Model (LitterAI) to more accurately label images of litter along these four dimensions: category, object, material, and brand. The most predominant type of litter recorded this Earth Day was drink-related packaging such as bottles, cans, cups, and bottlecaps (36.3%) followed by smoking-related litter at 24.6%. Additionally, we can explore the relative frequency of litter by specific objects and brands using WordClouds.

Frequency WordCloud of Litter Data by Object Type collected on 22nd April 2022

Frequency WordCloud of Litter Data by Object Type collected on 22nd April 2022

Would you like to further explore this dataset??

• You can explore a dynamic treemap of litter organized by category, object, and material by visiting this link.
• You can also get a better sense of how often each brand occurs by visiting this link

There is much more work to be done! Stay with us on our journey as we continue to map, analyze, and pick up litter around the planet.???