Diverters' Story Map
A story map is visual representation of experiences that is super imposed onto a geographic area. Although many Victoria's waste pickers work independently, this story map brings together waste pickers' 'trap lines' to show the areas in which they collect bottles and cans.
In a collaboration with University of Victoria, we are pleased to announce this citizen science approach to visualizing diverters' impact on local recycling economies!
Community Mapping Project Summary
Mapping Sustainability with Citizen Science: How Waste Pickers are Promoting Circular Economies in Victoria, BC
"Over the next few months, a group of Diverters from the Diverters Foundation and Lili Munn (an
undergraduate student from the CBRL lab at UVic) are working together as co-researchers to
create a community story map that shows the impact of the recycling work accomplished by
waste pickers in the City of Victoria. The project aims to give voice to waste pickers and
Diverters and to create a map from their stories that they can be proud of. A community mapping
event will bring together waste pickers in one space to do physical and artistic mapping
activities. Waste pickers will have the opportunity to share and learn from each other what they
think is important about their work – topics like where they collect, what they collect, what
barriers exist in their work, and where they may encounter them.
An ArcGIS Story Map will combine physical maps, images, and quotes from waste collectors,
all in one place to tell the story of waste diversion in Victoria and be made available on this
website! By sharing this map outside of the waste picker community, the project will show
members of the broader Victoria community the impact of waste pickers in their community, as
many people are not aware of waste pickers’ contributions to the city, their knowledge about the
recycling system or their diverse motivations behind the work they do. This will help to de-
stigmatize waste pickers and show the importance of their work. By viewing our story map,
people will also learn how they can take action to change their recycling habits and promote
circularity in the waste economy in Victoria.
Check back over the next few months to view the completed map!
The Process
Through group discussions at the University of Victoria campus, Diverters were first brought together to highlight the different elements that they wish to be emphasized in the story map (seen in the photo on the left).
As you can see in the vision board, concepts of economy, ecology, and cultural habits were the main talking points.
More about Community Mapping
If you're interested to find out more about community maps, Esri is a wonderful resource. Follow the link for more!
https://www.esri.ca/en-ca/home