Tracking trash: New app helps Charlottetown with garbage cleanup

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With the help of a new app, the city of Charlottetown is hoping to create maps of its walking trails in the hope of identifying which areas have the biggest litter problem.

The app, called Litterati, allows users to take pictures of individual items of litter anywhere in Charlottetown.

The app creates a timestamp of when the trash was collected and also assigns a geographical tag to identify the location where it was found.

'What's the reason behind this?'

"What we're hoping is that people will use this app ongoingly and then we'll be able to create maps all over the city of Charlottetown and be able to really tell where a lot of trash is being collected and try and figure out what's the reason behind this," said Jacqui Scaman, one of the organizers of the cleanup and an intern with the city.

The city, along with local volunteers, had the opportunity to use the app for the first time during a trail cleanup on Saturday.

More than 100 volunteers registered to collect trash along the Confederation Trail, said Jessica Brown, a city official.

Participating in the event held special meaning for Peggy Chen, who was joined by her parents, Mary and Qianyi. The pair arrived in Charlottetown from China on Friday.

While May and Qianyi were dealing with jet lag, they were happy to roll up their sleeves and participate in the cleanup. It didn't take long for the family to fill an entire bag with trash found along the trail. 

Peggy Chen moved to the Island from China last July and has quickly come to call P.E.I. home. She said volunteering for the cleanup was an easy decision. 

"This is our home," Peggy said. "And we must, everyone must do something for our home."

Using the data

Organizers plan to take the litter collected to Simmons Arena in Charlottetown where it will be sorted through using the app, Scaman said.

It's anticipated that the information gathered from the app will offer insight into what kinds of materials are most commonly found and if they're coming from fast-food restaurants or homes, said Scaman.

Maps will be created using the data to identify what places on the trail had the most garbage. New trash cans will be placed along the trail where the most garbage was collected. 

Islanders interested in continuing to help Charlottetown's cleanup efforts are encouraged to register to use the app on the city's website so that data can continue to be collected. 

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