One of the potential Trash Trout locations in Greenville.

What’s William been up to?

A lot. Sound Rivers’ intern William Wallace has been out and about on both the Neuse and the Tar-Pamlico over the past week.

Last Friday, William spent the day scouting out potential Trash Trout locations off the Tar River near Greenville.

“Having seen how much trash can be collected by these Trash Trouts, I think adding one in Greenville would help tremendously in mitigating the flow of trash into the Tar River,” William said.

William walked stretches of Greens Mill Run, Meetinghouse Branch and Bells Branch, looking for the ideal location for a passive litter trap. There are a few requirements: there has to be trash in the water; the waterway has to be between 10 and 50 feet wide and 1 to 3 feet deep; have trees or some other feature to attach the Trash Trout to; the location has to be accessible for a truck and have banks that aren’t too steep so that people can get in and out of the creek.

That’s a lot. William said Upper Greens Mill Run seems best suited for a Trash Trout.

Intern William Wallace nets trash out of the New Bern Trash Trout as volunteer Roger Montgomery looks on.

Sound Rivers currently has three in operation: on Jack’s Creek in Washington, Duffyfield Canal in New Bern and Little Rock Creek in Raleigh. In addition to the Greenville area, locations are being scouted in Kinston, along Neuse River tributaries.

And speaking of the Neuse, this week William was cleaning out the Trash Trout in New Bern, with help from volunteers Roger Montgomery and Leigh Smith.

On Tuesday, the three pulled out more than 3,000 pieces and fragments of trash, which included roughly 500 fragments of Styrofoam, along with a hypodermic needle and some needle caps.

There was one big surprise in this week’s haul from the New Bern Trash Trout: “We found an entire trash bag of decorations, plates and napkins from someone’s 50th birthday party,” William said.

Thanks William, Roger and Leigh for your hard work!

Trash Trout scouting site off the Tar River.

Another potential site for a Trash Trout off the Tar River.

This week’s New Bern Trash Trout “before” photo.

This week’s New Bern Trash Trout “after” photo.

(here’s the difference between before and after … that’s a lot of trash!)