There will soon be a demonstration project to control litter in Mile Branch, one of Covington’s major streams flowing into the Tchefuncte River, thanks to a new Healthy Communities Grant awarded to Keep Covington Beautiful.
The project will feature a litter boom that intercepts floating debris in Mile Branch near Pine View Middle School. The boom will allow wildlife, canoes and kayaks to navigate over or under it.
The litter collected will be separated from vegetative debris. The recyclables will be separated from regular trash and recycled; the collected litter will be categorized by type, brand and age.
The goal of the Waterway Litter Abatement Project, carried out by the nonprofit Keep Covington Beautiful partnered with the Osprey Initiative, is to develop a litter attack plan for the watershed inside Covington in order to stop trash at its source before it enters the local waterways. Most litter originates in populated areas, then conveyed by stormwater runoff into small urban streams and, from there, into larger water bodies.
The $7,592 grant was made by Keep Louisiana Beautiful, the state’s anti-litter and community improvement organization focused on education, enforcement, awareness and cleanups.
Keep Covington Beautiful projects include biannual planting of the downtown streetside planters, litter prevention, recycling activities and environmental education. To learn more, visit https://www.keepcovingtonbeautiful.org or contact info@keepcovingtonbeautiful.org.
This story originally appeared on NOLA.com via a staff report. View the original story here.
