When The Trees Help Collect Our Trash
For the past few years, I've witnessed a serious amount of garbage that makes its way into our creeks and rivers. I've often wondered if there was a way to build something that would naturally collect the assortment of bottles, cans, cups, and various other forms of trash 24 hours a day. My thoughts have often ended in discouragement thinking about the number of regulations and red tape there would likely be if someone wanted to build something into the creeks to pull this off. Then yesterday, I saw something remarkable. My son and I were walking through the Stewart Park Natural Area and we noticed a tree had fallen into Newton Creek and was collecting a large amount of trash! It was perfect! The tree crosses the entire creek and so it naturally catches garbage that is floating near the top of the water. So today Abraham and I came back and bagged up all the trash. Included in the items the tree had snagged were a styrofoam cooler, a glass lightbulb, spray paint cans, all sorts of cups, water jugs, water bottles and more. I'm still curious to know more about what could be engineered to help catch as much trash as possible without harming the fish and wildlife that use the creek. Who knows, maybe a tree is the best method.