Trash Can Selfies - Ray Paseur

Trash Can Selfies - to Prove a Point

Executive Summary
I've always been troubled by the amount of litter and garbage along the trails of the George Washington Memorial Parkway, especially those near Roosevelt Island. It is my belief that the lack of trash cans on the Virginia side of the Potomac River contributes to the litter, since people have no place to dispose of their trash. The DC side of the river seems so much tidier.

To test this theory I decided visit all of the trash cans on the Virginia side and the DC side, and take a selfie with each of them. This survey covers both sides of the river from Key Bridge to the 14th Street Bridge.

In this survey we find that the DC riverfront has 49 trash or recycling stations.

The Virginia riverfront (controlled by the National Park Service) has only 2 trash cans, and only one water fountain along the three miles from Key Bridge to the 14th Street Bridge.

Virginia Trash and Recycling Cans

Virginia Riverfront Trash or Recycling Cans