Talking trash a.k.a Michigan is America's most garbage state

[kevinlitman-navarro]

Pitch

Summary

I decided to look at landfills in the United States. The EPA has a dataset listing all of the landfills in the U.S., including the year they opened, how many tons of garbage they contain, how much they can hold, etc. I think this might make sense on a map, because then I could compare landfill locations with census information on the country level, but still interesting I hope.

Details

Possible headline(s):

Talking Trash -- Michigan Is a Garbage State

Data set(s):

EPA landfill data

Code repository:

This guy

Possible problems/fears/questions:

There weren't as many patterns as I would've hoped in the data -- I thought maybe I could compare poverty rate to amount of landfills or volume of garbage in a state (in part inspired by this story), but there was no discernible correlation. I think it might be more interesting at the county level, maybe these patterns would show up, or maybe they just don't exist.

Work so far

Turns out a great deal of landfills were built in the early 70s, I wasn't around back then, but I assume it has something to do with rising population levels (i.e. post baby-boomer garbage boom)

I added some population data so I could look at tons of garbage per capita, then made bar charts for the top and bottom results

Checklist

This checklist must be completed before you submit your draft.

• [ x] I have already spent time with my data set, opening it, exploring it, etc
• [ x] I have created a "DIARY.md" file to save links and list all of the terrible, no good problems I come across
• [ x] My issue links to my data set(s)
• [ x] My issue links to my code repository
• [ x] My issue explains what I'd like to explore in the data set
• [ x] My issue includes images - either inspiration or what I've done so far

[kevinlitman-navarro]

Update

Your project content: images/words/etc

For the two bar charts, I just changed the text size of some labels to make it more legible.

For the chart tracking when landfills were opened, I used illustrator to add in some annotations. I think maybe I should add in another annotation to explain the decline after landfill construction peaked in the 70s, but also want to keep the graphic less busy.

Any changes in direction or topic?

I also did some QGIS stuff to see if there was any obvious relationship between counties with a high poverty rate and the presence of landfills, but I need to figure out a better way to look at it, because most landfills are in urban areas, so it's not really worth it to compare on a nationwide level. Maybe I can look at census tracts, and compare different areas of urban centers.

Problems/Questions

I think I just didn't choose super interesting data.

Checklist

• [ x] I have included my visuals
• [x ] I have filled out the sections above
• [x ] I have been updating my DIARY.md with details about my process
• [ x] I have uploaded/updated any Jupyter Notebooks or other datasets into my code repository

[playfairbot]

Greetings! I'm a little robot, just having a little look around.

You need some feedback, let me summon @ella24, @zle2105, @kellykiki for you

[kellykiki]

Hey, Kevin! I liked that you used annotations; your update tell us a story (line chart).

• For both of the bar charts: I think you need your horizontal axis labels end when the data end. For example, right now I can see that Michigan produces more than 50tons per capita, but I do not know exactly how many.
• For the line chart: I think you need your dates start and end when your data start and end. And what about adding some minor ticks so we can "estimate" time intervals better?

[ella24]

Hi Kevin,

Please do one graph with all the states, even if it's gigantic. I believe there is something there too.

For the first graph, I believe that writing the '50 per capita' in the tick causes a distraction. The 50 should stand there by itself and the 'tons of garbage per capita' should be a yaxis.subtitle or a cool annotation, like the ones you used for the second line graph.

[zle2105]

These are great. Could also be interesting to annotate the bar chart with interesting stats from each state.

[kevinlitman-navarro]

Update

Your project content: images/words/etc

Didn't have the time/wherewithal to make many changes. Changed some fontsizes, added a subtitle to one of the bar graphs, but did find an interesting angle to pursue.

Any changes in direction or topic?

Well I learned why Michigan has so much garbage. They have a super low tax on dumping trash, so neighboring states (and Canada?!?!?!?!?) bring trash to Michigan. I'm going to try and find the rates for all the states, and then run some more comparisons and see how much that tax is a factor in the trash situation.

Problems/Questions

I definitely didn't budget my time well on this revision that's for sure

Checklist

• [x] I have included my visuals
• [x] I have filled out the sections above
• [x] I have been updating my DIARY.md with details about my process
• [x] I have uploaded/updated any Jupyter Notebooks or other datasets into my code repository

[kevinlitman-navarro]

Final

Project visuals/text

A bit more text on the webpage, but hopefully these could stand alone [NOTE: If you go to my webpage and the only text is 'garbage' over and over again, I'm sorry, I'm going to fix it soon, my parents are in town and I'm going to see a play with them because they are theater nerds and I wanted to turn this in on time]

Also, I did the titles in HTML, so probably better to look there

Details

Headline: Talking Trash

Published website version: https://kevinlitman-navarro.github.io/garbage/

Code repository: This guy

Final data set(s): EPA Landfills, and average cost of dumping, found here

What did you find to be the most difficult part of this project?

Running a bunch of aggregations/plots and not finding any patterns was a bit frustrating.

Are you satisfied with what you produced? Is there anything you would like to change or improve?

Not really. In order to make this good, I really need to get more into the data of who imports/exports trash and learn more about the state dumping surcharges. Basically, I found out what was really interesting and what I really needed to late into the project.

UPDATE -- After writing my copy and thinking about it more, I should have made charts showing the regional differences in dumping fees. I did this work behind-the-scenes, but it would have made way more sense to make a few more charts to really show the relationship (to the extent that it exists) between cost and volume of garbage

Checklist

• [x] I have included my visuals
• [x] I have posted my project to my project website
• [x] I have been updating my DIARY.md with details about my process
• [x] I have uploaded/updated any Jupyter Notebooks or other datasets into my code repository

[malbasi]

I really love the final product of this. Trash is generally boring, but your playful voice in the text, annotations and titles give it some life. I'm having a hard time finding anything to change in your final graphs. My two biggest issues (which are minor) are: 1.) x-axis labels should be shorter or laid out differently. It's odd that they take up so much horizontal space. 2.) your highlight colors on the bar graphs disappear into the background. Maybe try a brighter color to draw the readers attention next time.

But this is great. The charts stand on their own even with the titles and words around them.

[tsp2123]

Hey Man! Great job with this project. I think you really did a good job and making garbage industry and your graphs really stand on their own. The annotations are also very useful. And I'm glad you had succinct explanations for why Connecticut has less garbage per capita vs Michigan, which seems like America and Canada's dumping ground. My minor point is aesthetic, and Matt's already mentioned it, but yeah, it would be cool to have a brighter colour on your highlights.

[ksliney]

Hey Kevin, Super minor suggestion--maybe switch your call out font on the line graph to be san-serif, for consistency with your other (bold) fonts.