News

VOLUNTEER TODAY!

A trash-collection device is slated to be installed on a creek in the heart of Kinston and Sound Rivers is looking for a crew of volunteers to join staff in installing our fourth trash trap on Adkin Branch.

Project partners Sound Rivers, the City of Kinston, Mother Earth Brewing and the Lincoln City Rising project are hosting a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Aug. 4 at 11 a.m. on the banks of Adkin Branch behind the Holloway Recreation Center. Installation of the Adkin Branch trash trap will follow the ribbon cutting.

“The traps are a way to clean up some trash and contribute to ongoing research about microplastics,” said Neuse Riverkeeper Samantha Krop. “It’s also an opportunity to bring the community together and people into connection with this important urban waterway — one that people in the community have historically loved and used for fishing and recreation, and is in need of care.”

With the help of City of Kinston staff, Sound Rivers scouted the best location to install the trash trap on Adkin Branch. The device is built to withstand the rigors of flash rain events, allowing water to flow through the trap unimpeded, at the same time capturing larger pieces of trash floating downstream. Sound Rivers currently has trash traps located on Jack’s Creek in Washington, Duffyfield Canal in New Bern, on Little Rock Creek on the grounds of the Walnut Creek Wetland Center in Raleigh, and is working with the City of Greenville to install one on a tributary of the Tar River.

Sound Rivers is seeking volunteers to help with not only the installation of the Adkin Branch trash trap, but volunteers who can regularly check to see if it’s in need of a clean-out and those willing to wade into the water to pull trash from the traps. Those interested in volunteering can email Sound Rivers’ Volunteer Coordinator Emily Fritz at emily@soundrivers.org.