CIgarette’s butt. Gatorade bottle cap. Part of the Clif Bar wrapper. cigarette butts. fake nails. Pieces of Styrofoam. Drink through a straw. Pieces of Styrofoam. cigarette butts.
Mallory Willem uses her gloved hands to quickly and efficiently separate trash from storm drains in Cedar Key, an island town off Florida’s Gulf Coast. She paused to examine her nails, painted a chalky lavender color.
“We have a lot of fake nails,” she says, tossing them onto a dull mosaic of broken trash.
Volunteers separate and record the types of trash collected in storm drain traps in Cedar Key, Florida. Credit: Monica Wilson, UF/IFAS Nature Coast Biological Station
Next to her on the sidewalk was a mesh bag attached to a storm drain containing items that Willem, an undergraduate student at the University of Florida, and two volunteers were currently sifting through. Cedar Key has installed 10 such mesh traps in storm drains around town, all designed to prevent trash from entering local waterways. Once a month, students and volunteers clean up, separate man-made and organic waste, and carefully record the types of waste collected. Endless cigarette butts and plastic debris dominate here.
This project is Trap operation (short for Trash Reduction in Aquatic Preserves) is part of a growing network of groups that use a technique known as “trash traps” to capture trash before it ends up in rivers, rivers and oceans. Some trash traps are relatively low-tech, such as stormwater drain traps and drainage traps. boom It extends across the river to capture floating debris. Other cutting-edge features include: swimming robot or giant trash wheel The garbage is sucked into the conveyor belt. The collected trash ranges in size from microplastics to mattresses and broken bicycles.
In Pasco County, Florida, Operation TRAP staff venture into an algae-covered river to retrieve trash captured by a device known as a water goat. Credit: Monica Wilson, UF/IFAS Nature Coast Biological Station
Since 2017, bins have collected more than 6 million pounds of trash around the world, according to . international garbage collection networka joint effort between the Marine Conservation Society and the University of Toronto to connect groups that use trash traps. (This figure only takes into account data from groups participating in the International Trash Network. The real number is probably higher, said Hanna de Frond, the network’s manager.)
But that’s just a drop in the ocean compared to the actual rivers of trash, especially plastic, that end up in the ocean every year.
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a new report According to the Pew Charitable Trusts, plastic pollution is expected to more than double by 2040. As of 2025, 130 million tons of plastic waste will be released into the environment every year. Without intervention, that amount could rise to 280 million tonnes by 2040, equivalent to dumping the equivalent of one garbage truck’s worth of plastic every second. And much of that waste ends up in the ocean.
Garbage traps are not yet widely available and may seem ineffective against this deluge.
And the meticulous way Willem and his colleagues record every piece of waste they collect, from Styrofoam pieces to plastic fingernails, can seem Sisyphean. However, out of the trash comes a valuable treasure: data.
In Baltimore, Mr. Trash Wheels consumes up to 500 tons of trash and debris annually. Presenting the Baltimore Waterfront Partnership
“[Litter traps]are great for cleaning, but they really should be seen as much more than that,” de Frond says.
Garbage traps not only significantly reduce plastic pollution in waterways, but also identify local sources of pollution and upstream solutions.
At the Port of Baltimore, Maryland, data Mr. Garbage Wheels—From the Giants, googly eyes Garbage traps, which consume up to 500 tons of trash and debris each year, were used to support a statewide ban on polystyrene foam products that took effect in 2020 and a citywide ban on plastic bags that took effect in 2021. Since 2019, foam trash caught on Mr. Trash Wheel has decreased by 90 per cent and plastic bag trash by 72 per cent.
In California, trash data caused ban on plastic bottles The city of South Lake Tahoe implemented it in 2024 in a similar local ordinance.
Florida Sea Grant employees measure storm drains before installing trash traps to prevent harmful debris from reaching waterways in Pasco County, Florida. Credit: Monica Wilson, UF/IFAS Nature Coast Biological Station
Using data from the trash can to inform such policies, policies that have a measurable impact, is “exactly what we’re trying to do,” de Frond says. Since its launch in 2021, the International Litter Trap Network has grown to include more than 150 local programs in 12 countries. global image About plastic pollution. the 2024 report Cigarette butts were found to be the top five “macro” trash items in trash cans. Contains plastic), plastic bags, plastic bottles, food wrapping paper, foam pieces, etc.
But local policy-making to prevent plastic pollution can be hampered by state laws. In the United States, some states Introduced the pre-emption law Prohibits local ordinances aimed at reducing plastic pollution. For example, in North Carolina, state legislators will Prohibited local government From banning plastic containers. Since then, dumpster data shows that 96 percent of the waste collected in North Carolina has flown away. It’s plastic.
At trash traps set up around Cedar Key, “plastic is going through the roof,” said Dr. Monica Wilson, Operation Trap’s project manager. Her team often bags some of the trash they collect and takes it to local aid events so people can take a look at what they pull out of the traps.
“People still don’t realize how much stuff is going into storm drains,” she says. She added that people seem to be shocked that cigarette butts are everywhere. Some smokers come to her and insist that they throw their cigarettes in the trash rather than on the street.
Florida is one of the states that prohibits local governments from regulating single-use plastics. Still, Wilson said her group has shown some interest in using garbage traps in counties and municipalities around Florida. One of Operation TRAP’s goals is to provide local governments with a plan for installing and maintaining traps, even if some locations do not have the resources to analyze the trash coming out of the traps.
Ideally, local governments would invest in trash traps just as they invest in curbside trash pickup, Wilson said. But buying traps and having them cleaned regularly is expensive, and local governments may be reluctant to procure them or may not be able to install them.
“The big barrier at the moment is probably funding,” de Frond said. “Litter traps are a long-term investment, and in addition to the initial cost of the technology, users must also consider maintenance costs, garbage removal, data collection, and other labor costs.”
Let’s take a look inside Mr. Trash Wheel. Presenting the Baltimore Waterfront Partnership
Currently, most groups in the International Trash Network are community groups or nonprofit organizations that rely on grants and volunteer work to support their work. But bringing in community members to clean and sort trash has proven to be another powerful aspect of trash traps. Volunteers are forced to face the consequences of their plastic consumption.
“It was amazing to see familiar products come up again and again, like fast food wrappers, snack packaging, and plastic bottle caps,” said one Operation Trap student volunteer. I wrote In a blog post from the University of Florida. “These weren’t just anonymous trash, they were a reflection of everyday habits, including my own.”
“The brands I found in the storm drains were the same ones I had in my pantry,” she continued.
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The abundance of trash cans also provides compelling photographic evidence of society’s plastic habits. Mr. Trash Wheel’s photo of him “munching” on a pile of waste at the Port of Baltimore and telling a sarcastic joke while doing so has turned him into a social media star. Gained over 45,000 followers and inspired others on Instagram halloween costume and the work of art.
Alison Blood, who manages Mr. Trash Wheel for the Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore, said during the trash-catching group’s recent online meeting that public participation has been great. But she echoed de Frond’s words, saying her goal is for technology similar to Mr. Trash Wheel to act as a catalyst for policies that prevent plastic waste in the first place.
“We want him to retire,” she said with a rueful laugh.
