Lecturer:

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ARE OUR WASTE BINS THE PROBLEM??

Human beings have a tendency of always needing reminder and monitoring on even the
slightest issues that have an effect on their lives on a daily basis (PSYCHOLOGIST WORLD).
The world is growing at an accelerating rate while urbanization is deepening its roots and
spanning miles and miles of kilometers into the towns. Environmental pollution is on the rise
while human beings live under the threat of being extinct. The measures taken to curb pollution
are no equal match to the rising rates of environmental degradation and the increase in waste
pollution on the environment. Waste bins have proved to be the most efficient way of managing
litter in the environmental but is there anything more that can be done to reduce the rising waste
levels?
The experiment carried out aims to find out whether there is a correlation between waste bins
usage and how appealing the litter bins were. The litter bins appeal was determined by the color
of the litter bins and the strategic placement of the containers in the environment. One color was
an old rusty gray color while the other was new luminous green paint applied on the waste bins.
My hypothesis was that the green waste bins which were more conspicuous and placed in open
paths were filled up faster than the non-conspicuous gray and hidden trash bins.

Methods
The experiment involved ten days of observation of 20 waste bins placed in crowded
areas and recording of the data. The research also involved interviewing ten municipal workers
who are in charge of emptying litter bins along the streets and leisure gardens. The observations I
made were in time limits of 1 hour each day with 30 minutes split between the noon and the late
evening. The waste bins observed were well spread out. The waste containers were in two colors
gray rusted for previously purchased bins and new green bins. The physical location of the waste
containers was not entirely on the streets, some were behind buildings or obstructed by
immovable objects. I observed two litter bins from different locations on every experimental day
to finish up with all of the 20 waste bins. The collected data from both the observations and the
interviews with the social workers was recorded on a daily basis.
Results

Observation results
9

8
7
6

Axis Title

Total

5
4
3

3
2

1
0

Axis Title

The collected results were analyzed, and the following results obtained.The standards used for
the experiment on the observation was full to indicate entirely filled up waste bins, half showing
more than half of the litter bins had waste and empty to suggest that the litter bins had absolutely
nothing. From the above results, it is clear that green litter bins were the most utilized with a
leading total of 8 full bins. Grey litter bins that were counted full only totaled to only two bins.
The observations also reported a tie of 3 between green and gray litter bins that were observed
and consecutively a higher number of gray bins that were half filled.
The interviews held with the municipal social workers tallied with the results obtained with 8 of
the ten respondents observing that they emptied the green waste bins more often than the gray
litter bins.

Total number of bins

Grey; 40%
Green
Grey
Green; 60%

From the above graph, it is clear that there was more use if the green waste bins than the
utilization of the gray trash bins by the population of the area under the study. The 20% disparity
in the usage of waste bins may have been as a result of the conspicuous appearing of the newly
placed green litter bins and the attraction to the users.

Conclusion
Based on the experiment it is clear that green waste bins attracted more users than the
gray waste bins. It is believed that a single piece of litter can amount to billions of accumulated
litter in a period of just a year. (EDITORIAL) The application of basic knowledge should assist
in solving the littering in our streets but if re-painting our litter bins can solve the current
problem at hand then we are good for survival.
The experiment is, therefore, a proof to show that more appealing litter bins will lead to
reduced rate of pollution. All said and done the duty of making the environment a safe place
starts on individual levels before escalation to other levels.

References
EDITORIAL. Interesting Facts and Statistics About Littering. 18 November 2013. Web Page. 13
August 2016.
PSYCHOLOGIST WORLD. Fogetting. 06 May 2015. 13 August 2016.