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Another urban waterway is now home to a new trash trap.

Spring Branch in Smithfield welcomed trash trap No. 13 last Friday, the latest addition to Sound Rivers’ Litter-Free Rivers fleet of passive litter-collection devices on urban waterways across the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico.

Program Director Clay Barber and Volunteer Coordinator Emily Fritz led the installation, with help from some very appreciated friends.

“Me and Emily are pretty smooth operators with installing trash traps, I gotta say,” Clay laughed. “But the folks who showed up from the county really put in the work. They were carrying all the heavy stuff. As always, on our enthusiasm gauge, they’re up there at the top.”

Clay was speaking about Adrian O’Neal, Johnston County Parks and Open Space director, and Ed Sanderford, an engineering professor at Johnston Community College and Friends of Johnston County Parks member.

“We’re so grateful to Adrian and Ed for their help with the installation,” Emily said. “They made it go so much smoother.”

Clay said Spring Branch is the ideal location for trash trap No. 13: as the recipient of a stream restoration project, courtesy of a North Carolina Land and Water Fund grant, it was restored in such a way to accept a lot of stormwater runoff from the surrounding area.

“It gets plenty of trash and sediment,” he said. “It’s in a conservation zone. It’s part of a larger Spring Branch resiliency project and more resiliency projects could be in the works: a trail, a footbridge to a little island in the middle.”

Also on hand for the Spring Branch trash trap installation was a crew from Spectrum News (stay tuned for the coming feature!) and a gentleman who drove from out of town to watch the process.

“He saw it on the news and swung by because his son built the raised beds in the garden for his Eagle Scout project,” Clay said.

The Spring Branch trash trap is located adjacent to the community garden at the corner of Fifth and Church streets.

“The Fifth Street Community Garden is well-kept, and there’s a big opportunity there,” Clay said. “If we’re shouting out for volunteer opportunities, I’ll mention the community garden — it’s there, too.”

Now that the trap is installed, the next step is finding volunteers to assist with keeping Spring Branch litter-free.

“The real work comes now,” Clay said. “Enlisting people to monitor the trap and let us know when we need to clean it out, finding volunteers to help clean out the trap, and even groups that want to adopt it for the month.”

“I’m excited about all the future cleanouts,” Emily said. “It’s a beautiful area, right there by the community garden. It’s really cool to have the trash trap in the center of town, in a place where people like to spend their time.”

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Read more at Sound Rivers’ Litter-Free Rivers program, volunteer opportunities and how to Adopt a Trash Trap on the Litter-Free Rivers page!