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Illegal Dumping Dashboard

Background & Purpose

This dashboard was developed using Survey123 data collected by Department of Public Works and San Rafael Police Department employees. The purpose of this dashboard is to provide decision-makers with a platform for understanding the issue of illegal dumping and track the success of various efforts to prevent illegal dumping.

Using the Dashboard

This dashboard is made to be highly interactive. Here are a few of the ways that you can interact with the dashboard

  • Select DPW or SRPD from the dropdown in the upper right-hand corner to view sites only picked up by DPW or SRPD. Select “None” to view all data
  • Click on one of the pilot projects to zoom into those areas and filter the data so that only points in those areas are displayed. Note how the graphs change as well to accomodate your selection
  • Click on any of the dumping points to get more information, such as when the site was picked up, and photos of the items
  • Click on one of the types of dumping in the pie chart to filter the data by these types. This sort of selection also works for dumping by month, and by location.
    • Please note: this selection does not work for dumping by material type
  • Try adding selections together in order to perform multiple filters on the data. For example, if you’d like to see casual dumping that occurred in May, first click on the casual dumping slice of the pie chart, and then click on  the month of May in the line graph

Notes on the Data

  • Pre- May 2021, there was some confusion about the definitions of multi-family vs. commercial and illicit vs. casual. As a result, the data collected before then may over-represent the prevalence of commercial dumping and casual dumping, and under-represent the prevalence of multi-family dumping and illicit dumping.
  • Illicit vs. Casual vs. Homeless
    • Illicit dumping refers to dumping that was likely done with clear malintent or recognition that this is not the appropriate way to dispose of items
      • Ex. dumping performed at the end of an alley or in a ditch
    • Casual dumping refers to dumping that was likely performed by someone who does not understand that is in an inappropriate way of handling these items
      • Ex. an apartment complex resident that believes the City will pick the items up for them if they’re left on the street, or someone who places an item with a “free” sign on the street
    • Homeless “dumping” refers to items and debris that is associated with houseless individuals. Unfortunately, the lack of trash service for these individuals make this a difficult issue to tackle. The City hopes to instead focus on the underlying cause of the debris, homelessness, instead of merely managing the symptom of the associated debris

 

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