News

The threat of heavy rainfall and rising waters meant Sound Rivers staff went into overdrive this week, prepping trash traps for the storm.

On Monday in Washington, Pamlico-Tar Riverkeeper Katey Zimmerman cleaned out a total of 2 pounds of trash from a largely clear Jack’s Creek trash trap

In Raleigh, Neuse Riverkeeper Samantha Krop dropped by the Little Rock Creek trash trap on Wednesday to clean out a mass of woody debris before the storm. This followed a solo cleanup last Friday by water-quality intern Eloise MacLean. Eloise removed 45 pounds of trash, along with a “ton” of woody debris.

And in Greenville, one team headed out on Monday to wade through chest-high water to clean out the Greens Mill Run trash trap, and another went out Tuesday to remove it from the creek, altogether.

“The City of Greenville was concerned about the amount of flashy flood water the creek receives during tropical-storm-level rains,” said Clay Barber, Sound Rivers’ program director. “We also didn’t want a large limb or tree to get too close to it and damage it or create an obstruction to the flow of the creek.”

The Greenville trash trap is riding out the storm in the back of one of Sound Rivers’ work trucks.

Part of Sound Rivers’ Litter-Free Rivers Program, these passive-litter collection devices are installed on five waterways throughout the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico watersheds: on Jack’s Creek in Washington, Duffyfield Canal in New Bern, Little Rock Creek in Raleigh, Greens Mill Run in Greenville and Adkin Branch in Kinston.

Since the first trash trap was installed on Jack’s Creek in May of 2022, more than 2 tons of trash has been removed from these waterways.

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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