Conservation
Washington Valley’s Litter Problem:
I am a frequent visitor to Washington Valley Park, located in my home town of Bridgewater, NJ. It is a large park with three different entrance lots located on Miller Lane, Newmans Lane, and Gilbride Road. The park has a hawk-viewing location overlooking a large quarry, a water basin/reservoir, several waterfalls, and a dam. The park has countless trails that criss-cross over roads and hills through beautiful, wooded terrain. The only problem with the park is the litter. I have been on countless park cleanups there (on an annual basis), and each time I return there is more trash than before. This is due to partying at night and large amounts of visitors during the day. The litter has long gone unsolved, and is threatening to damage the ecosystem for the animals and plants that call the park home, and ruin the atmosphere for the locals that frequently visit.
The Station Concept:
The most common cause for littering is the inconvenience of carrying around trash by hand or in a car. People want to dispose of their trash, get impatient, and litter, soiling beautiful parks and landscapes. Thus, the purposes of my trash management stations are as follows:
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To provide people places to dispose of their trash
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To protect the trash/recycling bins from animals and the weather
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To provide places for educational content about recycling to be posted
Now you might be wondering how I developed the designs for my stations. The design concept hinged on the necessity of having the recycling bin, which is quite short in height, sit at the same level of the tall garbage bin. This required the addition of a few cross-beam supports. Next, I wanted to maintain a simple, rectangular shape, while keeping the space on either side of both bins, somewhat small and regular. This impacted the location of the center cross-beam, vertical support, and the size of both doors. The designing of the stations was one of the hardest parts of the project, requiring lots of thought and problem-solving.
Research Document:
To learn more about the project and the research behind it, check out this document:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IyPQUd0uwmu7qu2mJh_X4K5c2MRM1ZRFyNQzg3mGHAE/edit?usp=sharing