Regional Variations in Urban Trash: Connections between Litter Communities and Place

Abstract

Litter is a pervasive social and environmental issue that continues to evade effective and sustainable mitigation strategies. As the nature of waste items can influence methods and rates of littering, an understanding of litter typologies associated with specific sites has the potential to inform targeted anti-littering efforts. In this study, data analysis methods from ecology were applied to litter surveys to evaluate patterns among urban litter items found in two types of streets in England (High Streets and Central Business Districts). The results indicate that sites characterised as a High Street (predominantly leisure activities such as shopping and dining) contained lower densities and less variety yet featured litter items with a higher potential for environmental contamination than sites categorised as Central Business Districts (identified by high numbers of professional workers and transport links). Although litter was significantly different between sites, the litter community structure was not. Our results suggest that litter typologies and associated activities can lead to specific knowledge of key influential items in a site and inform future evidence-based and sustainable mitigation systems.