DATE: May 8, 2023
TO: Council Sustainability Committee
FROM: Director of Public Works
SUBJECT: Litter Assessment by Litterati
RECOMMENDATION
That the Council Sustainability Committee (CSC) reviews and comments on this report.
SUMMARY
In an effort to better understand Hayward’s litter problem, staff worked with the global litter data science company, Litterati, throughout 2022. Litterati, selected the City of Hayward, alongside the cities of Memphis, TN and Norfolk, VA, to participate in a new pilot project, the City Fingerprint Project (CFP). CFP allows cities to take a data science approach to develop a composite litter baseline throughout the City. To do so, Litterati hired Litter Researchers to record observed litter at 300 locations across the City during three data collection periods (April, July, and September). Litterati staff then analyzed that data and compiled it into a litter assessment.
BACKGROUND
The City allocates significant resources to remove litter throughout the community, including eight full time employees dedicated to the street sweeping program and three full time employees dedicated to stormwater maintenance. The City’s Keep Hayward Clean and Green Taskforce hosts clean-up events across the City throughout the year and Maintenance Services manages the Adopt-a-Block program. Altogether, the City spends more than $2 million per year on litter collection.
The City’s new agreement with Waste Management of Alameda County (WMAC) took effect on March 1 this year. The agreement calls for new Big Belly trash and recycling receptacles to be located throughout the City. The information in this report will be used to help guide the placement of the new receptacles.
DISCUSSION
In an effort to better understand Hayward’s litter problem, staff worked with the global litter data science company, Litterati, throughout 2022. Litterati, selected the City of Hayward, alongside the cities of Memphis, TN and Norfolk, VA, to participate in the CFP pilot. CFP allows cities to take a data science approach to develop a litter composite baseline throughout the City. To do so, Litterati hired Litter Researchers to record observed litter at 300 locations across the City during three seven-day data collection periods (April, July, and September). Litterati staff then analyzed that data and compiled it into a litter assessment (Attachment II).
The CFP measured two aspects of litter in each area: 1) Litter Composition (the general makeup of litter observed by the researchers) and 2) Litter Density (a normalized measurement of litter per square meter).
The main categories of litter found were: smoking, drink, and personal hygiene. The most identifiable pieces of litter were cigarette butts and bottle caps. The top ten identifiable objects in each data collection period are listed in Table 1 below.
Table 1: Most Common Identifiable Pieces of Litter
Spring
Summer
Fall
Cigarette butt: 2,923
Cigarette butt: 2,651
Cigarette butt: 2,445
Bottlecap: 450
Bottlecap: 421
Bottlecap: 459
Tissue: 313
Tissue: 350
Tissue: 308
Cup: 235
Bottle: 280
Cup: 248
Bottle: 231
Cup: 267
Bottle: 239
Facemask: 205
Facemask: 187
Facemask: 159
Label: 140
Lid: 157
Lid: 131
Can: 125
Straw: 148
Straw: 121
Straw: 122
Box: 126
Can: 103
Box: 119
Label: 113
Label: 102
Cigarette Litter
The State of California has prohibited smoking or using tobacco or cannabis related products on public school campuses and playgrounds. Council adopted the Smoking Pollution Control Ordinance 14-18 in 2014 and amended it with Ordinance 17-14 in 2017, which prohibits smoking in public places (whether enclosed or unenclosed) and prohibits disposing of smoking waste within the boundaries of an area in which smoking is prohibited. Currently, the City has a contract with the Downtown Hayward Improvement Association to collect litter, including cigarette butts, in Downtown Hayward and a contract with the Downtown Streets Team to collect litter, including cigarette butts, in Downtown Hayward and along Tennyson Road. Despite these regulations and mitigation measures, cigarette butts were the most common piece of litter identified during all three litter research periods.
Other cities have used receptacles customized to collect cigarette butt litter to address this specific litter problem. The Ballot Bin is one customized receptacle that has proven to reduce cigarette butt litter by 46%. The Cities of Pittsburgh, PA; Port of Seattle; and Redwood City, CA have all installed Ballot Bins (Image 1). The City of Pittsburgh funded their Ballot Bins through a Keep America Beautiful grant. Staff is seeking direction from the CSC on whether similar funding and pilot project should be pursued. The City of Hayward adopted a Smoking Pollution Control Ordinance in 2017 which in part states “smoking shall be prohibited in all facilities, areas, and vehicles owned, leased, operated, or controlled by the City of Hayward, and all such areas shall be subject to the provisions of this “Article”. Placing the receptacles in the public right-of-way seems inconsistent with the City Ordinance. If there is support for installing Ballot bins in Hayward, staff would develop a plan for maintaining the bins, which would include emptying the bins, addressing potential vandalism, and updating the City’s Smoking Pollution Control Ordinance . Staff is concerned that the receptacles may be considered unsightly and add to visual clutter. Furthermore, these devices can be yet another target for additional vandalism in public places. A list of pros and cons of cigarette receptacles can be found in Attachment III.
Image 1: Ballot Bin in Pittsburgh, PA
Hotspots were identified, which can be viewed in Image 2, below. Most of the hotspots were found in medium to high density residential areas, as well as near the Hayward Executive Airport, Costco, and along Industrial Ave near the hills.
Image 2: Hotspots
The hotspots identified by the litter assessment confirm insight gathered from field staffs’ on-the-ground observations.
Litterati technology is also able to read the labels on litter to associate with a brand. A word cloud (Image 3) was created to show the most common brands littered, which included Corona, Starbucks, and McDonalds.
Image 3: Word Cloud of most common brands littered in Hayward City staff has layered Litterati’s litter hot spot data with other City databases in ArcGIS, including City public litter cans. This data (Image 4 & 5) will help inform staff on possible causations of litter hot spots and identify mitigation strategies. For instance, litter hot spots that do not currently have a public litter can will be considered as locations for new public litter cans.
Image 4: Litter Hotspots vs. City Public Litter Cans
Image 5: Litter Hotspots vs. City Public Litter Cans – Zoomed in View of Downtown Hayward Litterati’s CFP has provided the City with baseline, science-based litter mapping. As staff implements mitigation measures, future litter mapping can be conducted to assess the effectiveness of the mitigation measures.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
According to a Keep America Beautiful Litter Cost Study, litter clean-up costs the United States more than $11.5 billion each year, with businesses paying almost 80% of those costs. In addition to the hard costs associated with litter clean-ups, there are indirect costs of litter on the quality of life including property value, customers entering a business, and a new employer locating into a community.
FISCAL IMPACT
Participation in Litterati’s CFP cost the City $1,875, which was paid for with Measure D funds. The majority of the project was covered by Litterati, who estimated the value of participation of the CFP at $50,000. The purchase of new public litter containers will be paid for through the agreement with WMAC.
STRATEGIC ROADMAP
This agenda item relates to the Strategic Priority of Confront Climate Crisis & Champion Environmental Justice. Specifically, this agenda item relates to the implementation of the following project:
Project C11: Develop ordinance regulating single-use food ware in restaurants and coordinate with county-wide efforts.
AB 1276 eliminated the need for a local ordinance to regulate single-use food ware; however, it accelerates the need for the City to conduct outreach to ensure the City’s restaurants are aware of the new requirements.
SUSTAINABILITY FEATURES
When trash is littered on the ground instead of being properly disposed of, it often ends up in storm drains, streams, and the Bay, which can affect water quality, endangers plants and animals, and pollutes the outdoors spaces that we depend on for recreation. By completing a litter assessment, staff can use the information reported to address litter hot spots and create programs and policies to reduce the amount of litter in Hayward and associated harm.
PUBLIC CONTACT
There has been no public contact for this agenda item.
NEXT STEPS
Staff will consider the information from the Litterati assessment, among other factors, to determine locations where new public litter cans may be installed. Staff intends to present the CSC with proposed locations for the new Big Belly trash and recycling receptacles at the May 2023 meeting.
Prepared by: Nicole Grucky, Sustainability Specialist Erik Pearson, Environmental Services Manager
Recommended by: Alex Ameri, Director of Public Works
Approved by:
______________________________________________
Kelly McAdoo, City Manager
https://library.municode.com/ca/hayward/codes/municipal_code?nodeId=HAYWARD_MUNICIPAL_CODE_CH5SAHE_ART6SMPOCO https://ballotbin.co.uk/about/
https://keeplouisianabeautiful.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/LitterinAmerica_ExecutiveSummary_Final.pdf