Why Do A Litter Index?
  
 To effectively fight litter, we need information about where and what it is in our community. Where is it accumulating? Where did it originate? This can be difficult for city workers to quantify, especially when they are overburdened with keeping it picked up. The Litter Index can provide valuable information to those in charge of fighting litter and can help local governments effectively manage resources and create policies to keep litter off our streets and out of our waterways. Keep Athens-Clarke County Beautiful is the lead agency working on litter abatement in Athens, Georgia, and is looking forward to getting the entire community involved in more thoroughly mapping and quantifying litter in Athens-Clarke County. Having many eyes on all areas of Athens will be essential for understanding the issue and creating solutions for a cleaner and more beautiful community 
  
 Why Use Debris Tracker?
  
 Debris Tracker is a free app used by citizen scientists around the world to record geospatial data on litter. To date, Debris Tracker volunteers have submitted data on over 3 million items around the globe to an open access database, which can be used by community scientists, researchers, policymakers, and other decision makers to explore global or local data on plastic pollution. While we know the plastic pollution problem doesn’t start in the ocean, we don’t know what, why, or how litter enters the environment from our communities. We need community scientists to help us find the missing piece of the puzzle.