Australian Town Comes Up With A Genius Way Of Stopping Pollution
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Plastic pollution and floating trash in water resources is an ever-growing global problem. Not only it is dangerous for human beings, but also for the wildlife as well. Luckily, sometimes, the simplest and easiest solutions are proven to be the most effective. This year the whole world heard about an Australian city Kwinana – and for a good reason. (Facebook cover image: City Of Kwinana)
Back in March 2018 the city of Kwinana installed two drainage nets in Henley Reserve
The drainage nets or so-called “trash traps” were placed to reduce the discharge of plastic waste from drainage systems. The nets are designed to prevent pollutants and solid waste, carried by stormwater from the local road network, from flowing into the nature reserves. The trash traps were placed on the outlets of two drainage pipes, located between residential and natural areas.
Image credits: City Of Kwinana
The nets, including manufacture, installation and civil work, cost the city about $20,000
This kind of waste management was proven to be extremely cost-effective, as manual labor (workers used to collect the trash by hands) was reduced to a bare minimum. Traps are relatively easy to install, and when they get full – they are picked up with a crane.
Image credits: Storm Water Systems
After installation in March, in a period of four months, the nets caught around 815lbs (370kg) of trash
The collected waste was transported into a sorting facility, where the green waste was then converted into mulch, and recyclable/non-recyclable materials were separated and the plastics recycled. The city’s residents are glad that the nets were proven to be such an extremely successful project. The local wildlife benefited as well – not only do they live in a cleaner area, but the trash traps are not dangerous for them, as to date no animal has been caught up in either of the nets.
Image credits: Storm Water Systems
Mayor Carol Adams says that the local community was always concerned about environmental initiatives
“We know that the Kwinana community is very passionate about global problems and rallies around actions with positive environmental impact and if it was not for the drainage nets, 370kg of debris would have ended up in our reserve,” Adams added.
Image credits: Old Castle Infrastructure
After the city officials made a post on Facebook about the project, it went viral in just under 48 hours
“The success of the post with over 27k shares, 92k likes and 13k loves in just 48 hours from people all over the world, just goes to show how important it is for government at all levels to really start to focus on environmental initiatives such as these and realize that small actions can have big impacts,” Mayor Adams said.
The city of Kwinana is planning to install two additional drainage nets in the year 2019. The city has decided that it is the most efficient and cost-effective way of keeping water pollution low. Imagine – if 815lbs of trash were collected in only four months, how much can be collected in a year or two? Hopefully, other places will follow the example of Kwinana and install nets in their cities as well.
Image credits: Storm Water Systems
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Simple, effective and not very expensive. I'd love to see this implemented all over the world.
This was on reddit first (like everything on BP). Someone in the comments explained why it isn’t possible to do it everywhere because of different sewer systems or something. I can’t remember exactly what it was though.
Agreed, this is amazing! One problem people are overlooking here is that trash is the biggest problem in developing and third world countries. I stay in South Africa which is a developing country and I believe we are ranked as the 20th highest polluter of the ocean in the world (we have a huge coastline, mix that with poverty and you got trash problems) and if we implemented this, those nets would be stolen in 24 hours :( I'm pretty sure the same can be said in any third world or developing country where those nets are like gold to the unemployed and poverty-stricken communities who live in shacks.
Trash is not only created by the poverty stricken, it is caused by everyone. Just look at what people throw away on a daily basis. I have seen people in flashy expensive cars throwing trash our their windows, people do not care enough about the environment. Just what use do you think someone living in a shack would get from a net? It offers no kind of shelter at all. The holiday makers who fill up our coastline and totally trash the place are not poverty stricken, or shack dwellers. Have you seen the litter they leave behind?
Agreed. The infrastructure in SA is also limited- much of our pollution comes from feeder rivers, where people live in shacks on the edges. I also don't see many pipes around where these could be fitted (although to be fair I haven't looked for them specifically). It's an excellent idea though.
Why isn't this installed all over the world? What are we waiting for?
about 10,000 landfills to be built !
I totally agree!!
Great idea and it´s not as expensive as ppl would think.
What a superb idea - here's hoping many more Local Authorities follow suit where feasible.
Simple, effective and not very expensive. I'd love to see this implemented all over the world.
This was on reddit first (like everything on BP). Someone in the comments explained why it isn’t possible to do it everywhere because of different sewer systems or something. I can’t remember exactly what it was though.
Agreed, this is amazing! One problem people are overlooking here is that trash is the biggest problem in developing and third world countries. I stay in South Africa which is a developing country and I believe we are ranked as the 20th highest polluter of the ocean in the world (we have a huge coastline, mix that with poverty and you got trash problems) and if we implemented this, those nets would be stolen in 24 hours :( I'm pretty sure the same can be said in any third world or developing country where those nets are like gold to the unemployed and poverty-stricken communities who live in shacks.
Trash is not only created by the poverty stricken, it is caused by everyone. Just look at what people throw away on a daily basis. I have seen people in flashy expensive cars throwing trash our their windows, people do not care enough about the environment. Just what use do you think someone living in a shack would get from a net? It offers no kind of shelter at all. The holiday makers who fill up our coastline and totally trash the place are not poverty stricken, or shack dwellers. Have you seen the litter they leave behind?
Agreed. The infrastructure in SA is also limited- much of our pollution comes from feeder rivers, where people live in shacks on the edges. I also don't see many pipes around where these could be fitted (although to be fair I haven't looked for them specifically). It's an excellent idea though.
Why isn't this installed all over the world? What are we waiting for?
about 10,000 landfills to be built !
I totally agree!!
Great idea and it´s not as expensive as ppl would think.
What a superb idea - here's hoping many more Local Authorities follow suit where feasible.