News

Sound Rivers staff met up with city, county and state representatives in Clayton last week to welcome a trash trap into local waters.

The Little Creek trap is No. 11 in Sound Rivers’ fleet of trash traps located on urban waterways in the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico watersheds, and the Clayton community came out to celebrate its installation with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

“It was a huge success — a great turnout from the community and elected officials,” said Neuse Riverkeeper Samantha Krop. “We had a number a speakers share about how the problem of litter impacts our communities and testified to the importance of installing innovative and effective litter-reduction technology.”

The passive litter-collection devices float on a stream’s surface, while anchor lines threaded through buoys funnel trash floating downstream into the trap. Volunteers monitor the traps to determine when they need a cleanout, and litter is removed and disposed of in a more appropriate place than the water.

“The ribbon cutting was a beautiful show of support from the Clayton community, and shows a really promising partnership to come in maintaining this trap and cleaning up the area,” Samantha said.

Last Thursday, Samantha, Program Director Clay Barber, Pamlico-Tar Riverkeeper Katey Zimmerman and Program Assistant Sierra Stickney Digan showed up early to set the anchor lines on the banks of Little Creek, but it was a local scouting troop who did the honors of setting the trash trap afloat.

“The scouts volunteered to help us do the final steps of installation,” Samantha said. “They put on waders and jumped in the creek — they were great and are very excited about adopting the trap. We had a number of people say they wanted to be a part of keeping Little Creek litter-free. There seems to be a lot of excitement for the trash trap in the community of Clayton.”

Sound Rivers’ first trash trap installation was in May 2022 on Jack’s Creek in Washington. Since, traps have been installed on Duffyfield Canal in New Bern, Little Rock Creek, Marsh Creek and Marsh Creek tributaries (2) in Raleigh, Adkin Branch in Kinston, Greens Mill Run in Greenville and East Tarboro Canal in Tarboro. Since 2022, nearly 5 tons of trash have been removed from these urban waterways.

“Clayton makes our 11th trash trap, so that’s a testament to how much our cities want to invest in litter-free creeks and rivers,” Samantha said.

Many thanks to the Winston Family Foundation, Grady-White Boats and Mid-Atlantic Fabrication for sponsoring the Clayton trash trap. We can’t do the work we do without you!

Like Sound Rivers’ Litter-Free Rivers program? We do too! You can support this program by donating to Sound Rivers, adopting a trash trap for a month of monitoring and cleanouts or volunteering for a cleanout.

Whatever way you prefer to help, we appreciate it!