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Pamlico-Tar Riverkeeper Katey Zimmerman headed to Tapped, Neighborhood Taproom, in Greenville this week to encourage adoption — of a Sound Rivers’ trash trap.

Katey spoke about Sound Rivers’ new Adopt a Trash Trap program with members of the Cypress Group of the Sierra Club at their monthly meeting.

“I first asked everyone for a show of hands of who already is familiar with what Sound Rivers does and who we are, and almost everyone raised their hands — which was super-awesome,” Katey said.

Introductions over, Katey talked about how Sound Rivers’ Litter-Free Rivers program is growing quickly: five passive litter-collection devices are already located on Jack’s Creek in Washington, Duffyfield Canal in New Bern, Little Rock Creek in Raleigh, Adkin Branch in Kinston and Greens Mill Run in Greenville, while two more are currently in the works in Raleigh, another in Tarboro (slated to be installed soon), and the towns of Clayton and Smithfield have also expressed interest. With the growth comes the need for more volunteers pitching in to keep their waterways litter-free, she said.

“We are starting the ‘Adopt a Trap’ to not only increase our capacity as a staff, but also offer more volunteer opportunities with the traps and more groups to get involved in our work,” Katey said.

Adopting a trash trap gives groups (civic, clubs, groups of friends, a family) the chance to sign up for a month of monitoring the amount of trash collected by a trash trap, organizing clean-outs and participate in keeping local waterways clean. Sound Rivers will supply waders, gloves, trash grabbers, trash bags and a scale for weighing the trash. The group will be responsible for monitoring the trap, cleaning it out at least once (or more if there’s a big storm), weighing the trash, then disposing of it, taking pictures and sending Volunteer Coordinator Emily Fritz the photos and data. In return, Sound Rivers will promote the group on social media and provide up to five Sound Rivers shirts to the group.

“It seems like the Cypress Group is all in for adopting the Greenville trash trap for a month, and we’re so happy that they, and the other groups that have signed on, are willing to pitch in to keep our waterways litter-free,” Katey said.

Would your group like to Adopt A Trash Trap for a month? We’d be happy for your help! Email Emily at emily@soundrivers.org to sign up today!