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Trash traps weather the deep freeze

Environmental, Litter-Free Rivers, Neuse River Watershed, Sound Rivers, Tar-Pamlico Watershed, Water Quality

Posted on January 30th, 2025

The trash trap on Duffyfield Canal encased in frozen ice.

Trash trap cleanouts were canceled last week, as frigid temperatures and snow swept across much of the southeast.

Sound Rivers Volunteer Coordinator Emily Fritz, however, braved the cold to check the status of the passive litter-collection devices on Jack’s Creek in Washington, Duffyfield Canal in New Bern and Greens Mill Run in Greenville.

The trash traps are part of Sound Rivers’ Litter-Free Rivers fleet of traps installed across the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico watersheds. Since 2023, the traps have collected and volunteers have removed more than four tons of trash from local waterways: on Jack’s Creek and a tributary of Jack’s Creek in Washington, 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 on three tributaries of Marsh Creek in Raleigh (in partnership with The Great Raleigh Cleanup, N.C. State University and the City of Raleigh.

Litter-Free Rivers is a volunteer-based program. If you or your group would like to volunteer to clean out a trash trap, we’d be happy to have you! Email Emily at emily@soundrivers.org or consider adopting a trash trap for a month through our “Adopt A Trash Trap” program. Find out more HERE!

The Greens Mill Run trash trap in Greenville clings to snowy banks.
The trash trap on a tributary of Jack’s Creek weather the winter storm well.

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