Litter Gitter Collecting Trash on D'Olive Creek

By Guy Busby
GulfCoastNewsToday.com

DAPHNE – Don Bates pointed to a bucket of moldy plastic and Styrofoam sitting on the bridge over D’Olive Creek. The trash was collected during a test of a small-stream litter collection device in D’Olive Creek. “That was with no rain,” he said. “When it rains, these things will have a lot more than that.” The device, known as a “Litter Gitter,” is now deployed in the creek upstream from the Gator Alley boardwalk and will be used to intercept floating litter from storm water runoff. Bates, the owner of Osprey Initiative, which developed the Litter Gitter, said 10 of the devices are now in place in Three-Mile Creek and three in Dog River in Mobile County. Another trap is being used in Foley. He said initial tests indicate a 95-percent success rate in preventing the downstream loss of floating litter.

Don Bates pointed to a bucket of moldy plastic and Styrofoam sitting on the bridge over D’Olive Creek. The trash was collected during a test of a small-stream litter collection device in D’Olive Creek. “That was with no rain,” he said. “When it rains, these things will have a lot more than that.” The device, known as a “Litter Gitter,” is now deployed in the creek upstream from the Gator Alley boardwalk and will be used to intercept floating litter from storm water runoff. Bates, the owner of Osprey Initiative, which developed the Litter Gitter, said 10 of the devices are now in place in Three-Mile Creek and three in Dog River in Mobile County. Another trap is being used in Foley. He said initial tests indicate a 95-percent success rate in preventing the downstream loss of floating litter.

On Oct. 11, two Osprey employees used a canoe to place the device at its station on D’Olive Creek east of the North Main Street bridge. Tom Herder, watershed protection coordinator for the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program, said the Litter Gitters are working well. “The first one they put out was at Maple Street (on Three-Mile Creek),” he said. “That was the worst quarter mile in Alabama. Now people go there to paddle. It’s working really well.” Bates said the cages don’t just catch trash floating downstream, but also help officials and environmental groups monitor what kind of debris is going into the waterways. “It’s bigger than just collecting litter,” he said. “The data we collect, and we take our time to do it. It really helps our partners fulfill their vision. We’re really excited about this spot.”

Trash collected is sorted and what can be recycled is sent to be collection stations. “We break our material down into three classifications -- sufficient for curbside recycling, which is almost pristine,” Bates said. “Then we’ve got our intermediate zone which is stuff that has been out in nature, but we have some people who will take it if we clean it up a little bit. Can’t just put that in somebody’s curbside because it will contaminate the whole load and they’ll just pitch it.”

Bates said he and Osprey employees also collected litter from the park near the creek. He said collections not only help prevent the trash from flowing into the creek and then to Mobile Bay, but also help officials see what kind of debris is being discarded. He pointed to a container of litter collected at the site. “You can look right off the bat – paper. That tells me that’s brand new litter. This tells me this is where you want “No Littering’ signs. Let’s care. Let’s be clean,” he said.

The initial cost of the Daphne program will be paid through a Trash Free Waters Program grant from the US Environmental Protection Agency, through the Mobile Bay NEP. After the first quarter of the year, Daphne Utilities will sponsor the program, paying the costs and overseeing the collection and data. “Daphne Utilities has been great partners,” Bates said.