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Trash trap cleanout nets 20 pounds of litter

Litter-Free Rivers, Neuse River Watershed, Sound Rivers, Tar-Pamlico Watershed, Volunteer, Volunteers

Posted on October 31st, 2024

(Left to right) Christina Marshen, Betsy Hester and Dawn Dolson, also known as the "Trashy Friends" of the Jack's Creek trash trap.

The “Trashy Friends” were at it again this week, liberating Jack’s Creek from 20 pounds of garbage collected in the trash trap.

Sound Rivers board member Betsy Hester and longtime Sound Rivers supporters Christina Marshen and Dawn Dolson waded into the water to clear the trap out — and prevent the trash from making its way downstream to the Pamlico River.

The trash trap on Jack’s Creek in Washington was the first of nine passive litter collection devices Sound Rivers has installed on urban waterways throughout the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico watersheds, as part of its Litter-Free Rivers program. The Litter-Free Rivers program launched with the Jack’s Creek installation in May of 2022, and eight more trash traps have been installed on urban waterways since: 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, and three more were recently added on Marsh Creek in Raleigh — a partnership between the City of Raleigh, The Great Raleigh Cleanup and N.C. State University.

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!

Like Sound Rivers’ ever-expanding Litter-Free Rivers program? We definitely do! Donate to support keeping your waterways litter-free!

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