By Sushant Bajracharya, Mystic Ambassador
One year ago on November 18th, 2021, MyRWA, Friends of the Malden River, and our partners installed a trash trap on the Malden River. Located across the northern end of the river, this trash trap helps catch and hold trash before it has a chance to float further down the Malden River and into the Mystic.
Gentle Giant Rowing Club has been monitoring the trap and recording what they see when they empty it. So far the trap has been cleaned 3 times and has done a phenomenal job in stopping the trash getting into the Mystic River. In total, the trap collected 17 30-gallon bags of trash (i.e = 141.78 lbs of trash) over one year.
The trash trap in October before emptying. PC: Rich Whelan
The trash trap after emptying. PC: Rich Whelan
Gentle Giant ferries the trash to shore. PC: Rich Whelan.
Some of the most common items found were plastic bottles, nip bottles, plastic wrappers, chunks of styrofoam, disposable cups, and face masks. Interestingly, we also found that there were a lot of toys such as nerf gun bullets, softballs, and tennis balls as well as multiple dog poop bags.
Here’s a breakdown from Rich Whelan of Gentle Giant Rowing Club of what items were found in the most recent emptying of the trap:
Over 100 plastic bottles - mostly single use water bottles.
12ish Nerf foam darts
1 large (3 feet diameter) plastic circle catch pan (?)
4 foam inserts used during pedicures
1 flip flop sandal
1 shoe
4 foam plates
5 plastic cups - McDonalds/Wendys type
30+ small pieces of foam at least 2" in size
5 balls - 3 tennis, 1 lacrosse, 1 5" soccer ball
1 mylar balloon
Countless cigarette butts
1 syringe with no needle
10 dog poop bags with dog poop inside
5 plastic bags
30+ pieces of small plastic - labels, broken plastic cups
5 plastic cup lids
8 labels from single use plastic bottles
8 aluminium beer cans - Bud Light and Natural Light
Countless fragments of small plastic and foam pieces - attached to leaves and sticks
23 bottle caps from various types of bottles - all single use plastic, mostly water bottles but some juice.
Thank you to the Mystic Valley Development Commission for providing us funding to maintain the trash trap, Gentle Giant Rowing Club for their ongoing maintenance and exceptional stewardship of the trap, and Friends of the Malden River, River's Edge, and other partners for making this project possible.
The installation team on November 18, 2021. PC: David Mussina
The data we have here is a fraction of what is getting in the river every day. The reason we have so many single-use plastics in the trash trap is because using single-use plastics is a behavioral problem. We have been so habitual in using single-use plastics that we, by default, tend to use these materials for convenience. The most effective way of handling trash is to generate less in the first place - EPA .
Let's all take this moment to look into all the single-use plastics we have touched this week and let's make an effort to see if there is an alternative to those items. We can solve the trash problem together by being thoughtful about our purchases and advocating for the reduction of single-use plastics.
