SAVANNAH, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Savannah Riverkeeper and their partners began their process to install eight litter booms, or traps, in waterways to help reduce plastic pollution.
There will also be live-feed cameras tracking storm surge impacts to measure just how much litter flows through the water during any weather events which can help target hotspots as hurricane season nears.
“Just being able to show people, like, when you throw this cup out of your car on the street, this is where it ends up,” said Savannah Riverkeeper Tonya Bonitatibus. “We’ve got this much trash, this is where it’s coming from, how do we really start ratcheting that down because if we’re really a tourism city, we should be putting our best face forward.”
They believe using the traps will stop 4,500 pounds of trash every year from flowing into the city’s waterways.
What they collect (Styrofoam, plastic, metal, etc.) will be studied to find sustainable solutions in the future in hopes of decreasing the damage drastically.
The first litter boom is now in the Placenta Canal in Thunderbolt on Highway 80 near Savannah.
Bonitatibus said the most common things found are Styrofoam cups – and the least common now are cigarette butts.
“The Styrofoam degrades, breaks down, into the water and a lot of the animals eat it, so that’s awful.”
This is part of a larger initiative funded by the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration’s Marine Debris Program and their partnerships for this project include the City of Savannah, Osprey Initiative, and Ogeechee Riverkeeper.
View the original WTOC story online here.