First Trash Trap will be Installed Tuesday

Monday, June 21, 2021

The first trash capture device, funded through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Trash Free Great Lakes grant, will be installed Tuesday, June 22 in Shantee Creek.

Members of the media may view the installation at 9 a.m. from the eastern side of the parking lot of Menards, 1415 East Alexis Rd.

“Every year, roughly 2,500 tons of garbage travel through our waterways and out into Lake Erie,” said Ed Moore, Toledo Director of Public Utilities. “Thanks to a new partnership and federal funding, that number will soon be reduced. Too much of the trash is getting into the water and then carried out to the lake, and this project will help stop that.”

The City of Toledo received nearly $415,000 in federal grant funding to install seven trash capture devices in waterways within five miles of Lake Erie. Part of the money will also be used to improve educational and outreach activities and events about the negative impact trash has on our health and the local economy.

A trash capture device, also known as a trash trap, is a mechanical system consisting of a floating boom and net that funnels and gathers floating debris before it can reach primary waterways like streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans.

The City of Toledo is working with Partners for Clean Streams, the University of Toledo, Keep Toledo-Lucas County Beautiful, the Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments, and Toledo Public Schools over a two-year period to accomplish the project.

###