As part of the AusLM methodology, each litter item’s material type was recorded. The primary material types (measured as items per 1,000m2) were:
- plastic - 69.2
- paper - 29.5
- metal - 9.2.
Other materials (polystyrene, rubber, cloth, glass, and other materials) were found in much smaller quantities.
An estimate of the volume of each type of material was calculated based on average item volumes and surveyor observations. These showed an estimated volume of 1,610 litres (L) of waste materials. Based on this estimated volume and the total area of transects sampled, the Queensland volumes per 1,000m2 for these materials are:
- plastic - 2.2L
- paper/cardboard - 1.4L
- metal - 0.8L
- rubber - 0.4L
- other - 0.4L
- cloth - 0.2L
- polystyrene - 0.2L
- glass - 0.1L
*Note minor variations in totals are due to rounding calculations.
