Litter pick up
The highway litter analysis began with a letter to the editor. The letter expressed the view that tourists contributed a significant amount of litter found along Yukon highways. We discussed this in class and posed the question, “How could we test this proposition?”
Students argued most Yukon tourism take place during the summer. Clearing a section of highway in the fall then conducting a litter survey along the same section in the spring and again in the following fall would indicate the extent to which tourists contributed to the highway litter. They hypothesized the spring litter survey would represent the locals contribution to litter and the following litter survey would indicate the local plus tourist litter contributions. Students also argued that we would need to conduct the same type of survey along different sections of highways to get a better sample.
We set out 200 meters survey zones along four sections of highways north and south and east and west of Whitehorse. Students mapped, identified and pickup all litter in these sections. This study was repeated five times.
Results of the survey: Students approached Dept of tourism to discuss the YTG anti-litter program, we discussed the possibility of developing an ongoing research project to determine:
The Yukon Dept of Highways developed a litter highway pickup program that has been functioning over the past 15 years.
An unanticipated result lead to another related study. More 75% of the identifiable litter came from MacDonalds. Students approached the local MacDonalds owner about the litter problem and he argued that the litter was beyond his control.
Students discussed this and proposed a test. They went through a drive through and ordered a cup of black coffee. They received : cup, cap, coffee, two cream, three sugar, stir stick, two napkins all in a bag. They repeated this process tree times, each time receiving the entire package. The students wrote a letter describing this and took it to the MacDonalds owner. The students argued they should have received only the cup, cap and coffee. The balance of the items only contributed to litter problem and represented unnecessary consumption. The Whitehorse MacDonalds changed the way they passed out a single item order in-order to minimize unnecessary consumption and the resulting litter . The MacDonalds owner presented this approach to a meeting of other MacDonalds owner at a franchise meeting. Other Canadian MacDonalds appear to have followed this trend.
The table below show how a section og highway way marked and each piece of litter recorded.
The highway litter analysis began with a letter to the editor. The letter expressed the view that tourists contributed a significant amount of litter found along Yukon highways. We discussed this in class and posed the question, “How could we test this proposition?”
Students argued most Yukon tourism take place during the summer. Clearing a section of highway in the fall then conducting a litter survey along the same section in the spring and again in the following fall would indicate the extent to which tourists contributed to the highway litter. They hypothesized the spring litter survey would represent the locals contribution to litter and the following litter survey would indicate the local plus tourist litter contributions. Students also argued that we would need to conduct the same type of survey along different sections of highways to get a better sample.
We set out 200 meters survey zones along four sections of highways north and south and east and west of Whitehorse. Students mapped, identified and pickup all litter in these sections. This study was repeated five times.
Results of the survey: Students approached Dept of tourism to discuss the YTG anti-litter program, we discussed the possibility of developing an ongoing research project to determine:
The Yukon Dept of Highways developed a litter highway pickup program that has been functioning over the past 15 years.
An unanticipated result lead to another related study. More 75% of the identifiable litter came from MacDonalds. Students approached the local MacDonalds owner about the litter problem and he argued that the litter was beyond his control.
Students discussed this and proposed a test. They went through a drive through and ordered a cup of black coffee. They received : cup, cap, coffee, two cream, three sugar, stir stick, two napkins all in a bag. They repeated this process tree times, each time receiving the entire package. The students wrote a letter describing this and took it to the MacDonalds owner. The students argued they should have received only the cup, cap and coffee. The balance of the items only contributed to litter problem and represented unnecessary consumption. The Whitehorse MacDonalds changed the way they passed out a single item order in-order to minimize unnecessary consumption and the resulting litter . The MacDonalds owner presented this approach to a meeting of other MacDonalds owner at a franchise meeting. Other Canadian MacDonalds appear to have followed this trend.
The table below show how a section og highway way marked and each piece of litter recorded.