Volunteers wade in and retrieve trash from the Jack’s Creek Trash Trout.

Trash Trout-ers were at it again this week, as Pamlico-Tar Riverkeeper Jill Howell and Sound Rivers’ water-quality interns Megan Long and Maddie Garrison headed up another clean-out and audit for Jack’s Creek trash. Thanks to all of our Trash Trout volunteers — Bill and Sara Hanifin, Dawn Dolson, Christina Marshen and Carl Crozier — who waded in and/or counted quite a bit of trash!

After, the creek looks clean again!

So, what did they find?

Soft Plastic

Bags: 6

Food wrappers: 59

Latex gloves: 2

Hard plastics

Bottles: 61

Lids/caps: 12

Straws: 14

Cigar tips and cigarette butts: 152

Other (cig lighters, pens, packaging): 19

Fragments: 41

Styrofoam

Cups: 23

Take-out containers/plates: 8

Insulation-foam/packing material: 37

Fragments: 564

(Jill said there were also so many pieces of Styrofoam measuring 2 mm or less that there was no way to accurately count them!)

Metal

Drinks:17

Other: 3

Fragments: 3

Glass

Whole bottles: 2

Fragments: 2

Other Material

Paper cups: 1

Fabric: 3

Rubber: 2

Sports equipment: 2

To learn more about what Trash Trouts do and why Sound Rivers has installed them on creeks in the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico watersheds, visit here.