The LRWP and SEWA volunteers went out to the litter trap in the Green Brook on Saturday, June 12th, 2025, to conduct a litter tally. Huge thanks to our SEWA International Central Jersey youth partners! Thanks to their efforts, we’ll have much better data on how the litter trap keeps our watershed clean. Learn more about the litter trap initiative here. And learn more about the LRWP’s litter tally project with SEWA here. Below, you’ll find Sewa’s Ashwin Pemmaraju describing the litter we picked up and conditions surrounding the litter trap.

Blog post by Ashwin Pemmaraju

We here at Sewa International Central Jersey Chapter have strived to clean up the site around the Green Brook litter trap, and to develop a better understanding of how plastic pollution and rainfall interact with the trap. We’ve noticed new items slipping past the trap and polluting the river, and some interesting challenges to floating litter traps that rely on capturing debris suspended in fast moving water.  

Trash found outside the trap: 

7 plastic bottles, 2 juice boxes, 2 masks, 1 spoon, 1 metal piece, 1 calculator, 20 wrappers, 5 aluminum cans, 1 possible car part, 1 shovel, 99 glass pieces, 1 small plastic liquor bottle, 1 bubble wand, 26 plastic bags, 1 plastic food container, 1 pill sheet, 2 plastic cups, 1 piece of roof slate, 1 piece of clay pot, 1 piece of brick, 1 glove, 6 pieces of fabric, 1 latex glove, 1 cigarette butt, 1 piece of plastic.

Perhaps the oil canister we found today explains the presence of oil slicks we noticed last week.

Trash found inside the trap: 

Plastic bottle (1), aluminum cans (2), pieces of styrofoam (6), nails (1), cigarette butt (1).

We also noticed an interesting aspect of the litter trap’s design: The current rebounds off the trap, slowing down incoming trash – the trash then falls from suspension, descends into the current, and passes under the booms. Thus, the heavier trash easily slides under the booms and escapes the trap. Perhaps this explains the immense abundance of garbage found on the river banks and the shallower isles down the stream.