Litter Data

Volunteer-collected data from OpenLitterMap, 2023–2026 • Iowa City, Johnson County, Iowa

At a Glance

Overall Impact

Since 2023, Iowa City Litter Crew volunteers have photographed and tagged litter using OpenLitterMap, building an open dataset that tracks pollution patterns over time.

31,636Litter Items Tagged

11,408Photos Submitted

4Years of Data

Iowa CityJohnson County, Iowa

Brand Analysis

Top Brands Found

The most frequently identified brands across all Iowa City cleanup events, spanning alcohol, fast food, and soft drink categories.

Hotspots

Highest-Yield Locations

Median items tagged per cleanup outing, by street or area (minimum 3 outings). Streets visited many times with consistently high counts rank highest here.

Policy Analysis

Bottle Bill Coverage — Soft Drinks

Iowa's bottle deposit law (1979) places a 5¢ deposit on carbonated sodas and sparkling water. Non-carbonated beverages — bottled water, sports drinks, and iced tea — carry no deposit. This analysis looks at the 2,854 soft drink containers tagged between 2023–2026.

Currently coveredCarbonated sodas & sparkling water (e.g. Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Dr Pepper)

~1,697

Could be coveredNon-carbonated beverages (e.g. Gatorade, bottled water, iced tea)

~1,179

Based on 2,876 soft drink containers tagged 2023–2026. Approximately 59% are carbonated (currently covered) and 41% are non-carbonated (not yet covered). Expanding the bottle bill could incentivize return of an estimated 1,179 additional items per cycle.

What We're Finding

Litter by Category & Sub-Type

Each ring shows a level of detail — click a segment to zoom in, click the center to zoom out. Inner ring = main category, outer ring = sub-type.

Where Litter Is Found

Litter Map — Iowa City

Each bubble marks a photo location. Bubble size = number of items tagged at that spot. Color = dominant litter category. Filter by category using the buttons below.