Volunteer Assisting Pennsylvania Resources Council

Pennsylvania Resources Council (PRC) is an environmental non-profit organization established in 1939. Their mission is to lead and promote individual and collective action to prevent waste and conserve Pennsylvania’s environmental resources for each generation.

They requested the assistance of a GISCorps volunteer to help with data management and building story maps and web applications to display several of their resources (landfills, recycling centers, incinerators, etc.). Brett Heist, a GISCorps volunteer in Michigan, was selected for the role.

Brett created a primary mapping dataset representing locations and information on landfills, recycling, and compost. A web application was created that allows users to filter and view the dataset. Brett started creating a StoryMap that was going to focus on the circular economy of glass in the Pittsburgh area. The application was going to tell the story of glass being deposited into a recycling container and its journey of being recycled. The goals were to highlight some of the shortcomings in the process and where changes are needed to make the circular economy a reality, and to educate the public on why and how much recycled items end up in landfills. Unfortunately, the project was put on hold due to PRC’s limited resources to support the continuation of the project.