News

Sound Rivers’ trash traps got some much-needed attention for a second week running.

On Tuesday, Water Quality Specialist Taylor Register, Volunteer Coordinator Emily Fritz and intern Katrina Borgen headed to Raleigh make some adjustments to the trash trap located in Little Rock Creek on the grounds of the Walnut Creek Wetland Center.

“We added on additional buoys and adjusted the lines to accommodate the rising levels of the creek due to all the rain we’ve had recently,” Emily said.

On Wednesday, the same crew was in Kinston, along with intern Tierney Reardon and volunteers Stephen West and Matt and Stephanie from Mother Earth Brewing to clean out the Adkin Branch trash trap.

“It was a hot cleanup, but the trap definitely needed to be cleaned out after the rain we’ve gotten,” Emily said.

The trash trap team removed more than 100 pounds of trash, and found some interesting things in this urban waterway, including a shoe, a lightbulb and a rubber ducky.

“I’m so incredibly thankful for our team of Kinston volunteers and their dedication,” Emily said.

The next trash trap cleanouts are tomorrow (Friday) at 11 a.m. at the Walnut Creek Wetland Center and Aug. 28 in Kinston. Visit our volunteer sign-up page to volunteer.

Part of Sound Rivers’ Litter-Free Rivers Program, these passive-litter collection devices are installed on five waterways throughout the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico watersheds: on Jack’s Creek in Washington, Duffyfield Canal in New Bern, Little Rock Creek in Raleigh, Greens Mill Run in Greenville and Adkin Branch in Kinston. A sixth trash trap was recently approved by the Town of Tarboro, to be installed on East Tarboro Canal in the fall. Sound Rivers, in partnership with The Great Raleigh Cleanup and the City of Raleigh, is working toward the installation of three additional trash traps in the Marsh Creek watershed in Raleigh.

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