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Neuse Riverkeeper Samantha Krop, water-quality intern Eloise MacLean and Walnut Creek Park Assistant Manager Celia Lechtman had their work cut out for them in the form of an overflowing Little Rock Creek trash trap on a hot, muggy day.

“It was so hot and so humid, and we went at the hottest part of the day,” Samantha said. “I think we forgot to measure the weight of the trash, but it was full, and also full of woody debris. Little Rock Creek will regularly overtop its banks, so all the stuff from the wetland can get trapped by the trash trap.”

As with every cleanout, there were plenty of plastic bottles and Styrofoam pulled from the trap. Not so common was the presence of googly eyes — three of them, in fact.

“Is this a thing in other creeks? Are there other creeks that have googly eyes?,” she laughed.

In all, Samantha said the trash trap had handled its toughest test so far, seemingly with ease.

“It’s so amazing how the trap works in these flashy storms. They really weather the weather,” she said.

The Little Rock Creek trash trap was the third installed on small, urban waterways throughout the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico watersheds as part of Sound Rivers’ Litter-Free Rivers program. Other traps are located on Jack’s Creek in Washington, Duffyfield Canal in New Bern, 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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