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The Kinston trash trap got a makeover this week, as Sound Rivers’ Riverkeeping team tackled vegetation that had taken over.

“This was mainly due to how much of drought we’re in and the lack of rain,” said Volunteer Coordinator Emily Fritz. “This part of the creek is pretty flashy, and when we have a rain, it has a good flow, so all that organic matter is moving downstream. But because it’s been so dry, everything’s just been kind of stagnant in the creek.”

Though the trap on Adkin Branch was overgrown, it was still doing its job.

“We found a dirty diaper, a baby doll arm and a bunch of Styrofoam, as always,” Emily said.

Emily, Water Quality Specialist Taylor Register Seijo and Pamlico-Tar Riverkeeper Katey Zimmerman removed a majority of the plant matter.

“We moved it downstream of the trap, keeping it in the creek, so it stays in the ecosystem,” Emily said.

While they found lots of spiders amid the greenery, they also found plenty of signs of aquatic life: near the trash trap was a small colony of bluegill beds. Bluegill are highly abundant in the Neuse River and its tributaries and are known for the crater-like depressions that male bluegills create with their fins for spawning.

“So, our trash trap is like a little nursery,” Emily said.

Since launching the Litter-Free Rivers program, Sound Rivers has installed a fleet of 13 of these passive litter-collection devices on urban waterways throughout the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico watersheds. The Litter-Free Rivers program started with a Jack’s Creek, Washington, installation in May of 2022. Since, 12 more trash traps have been added: on Duffyfield Canal in New Bern, Little Rock Creek in Raleigh, Adkin Branch in Kinston, Greens Mill Run in Greenville, East Tarboro Canal in Tarboro, three more were added on Marsh Creek in Raleigh (in partnership with the City of Raleigh, The Great Raleigh Cleanup and N.C. State University), a second Washington trash trap on a small tributary of Jack’s Creek, on Little Creek in the Town of Clayton, on Walnut Creek, near its confluence of Lake Johnson, in Raleigh, and on Spring Branch in Smithfield.

Nearly 7 tons of trash have been removed from Litter-Free Rivers’ trash traps by an army of volunteers before it could enter the Neuse or Tar-Pamlico rivers — a step in the right direction to make your rivers litter-free.

If you or your group would be interested in working for water quality by volunteering to clean out a trash trap or Adopt a Trash Trap for a month, check out the following:

More information about the Adopt A Trash Trap program.

Find out when and where the next trash trap cleanouts are scheduled — we’d love to have your help! Email emily@soundrivers.org.

Like Sound Rivers’ ever-expanding Litter-Free Rivers program? We definitely do! Donate today to help Litter-Free Rivers grow!