By now, everyone is probably aware of the amount of plastic waste we are producing as humans. The amount of waste in our oceans, landfills, and waterways is unacceptable. Now more than ever we need to be environmentally conscious and know the effect that we are having on our world. This Australian town saw the amount of garbage that was being spilled into natural areas from residential spillways and decided that this somewhat simple solution may do the trick.
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The brilliant idea came from a company in Kwinana, Western Australia. The authorities in the town put in a filtration system, essentially these large nets, over the drain pipes in the spillways to catch any debris that comes through.The water still flows freely and it protects the local environment from contamination and pollution. When the nets fill up with trash and debris they are removed and the garbage is thrown into trash collecting trucks and transported to a sorting center where everything that can be recycled is removed, and then sorted some more. The overall quality of the nets is very durable and the material they are made out of won’t break down over time.
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They started with one in place in a spot called the Henry reserve. The government and citizens alike have seen an incredible difference in the amount of litter in flowing into the natural areas. Usually, trash is washed away in heavy rains and gets pulled into these drainage systems that eventually end up in natural ecosystems. This filtration system, however, removed more than 800 pounds of debris from two outlets in only a couple of weeks. And this was just the beginning.
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The first two outlets were only the test. They saw such good results from such a small area, they decided to install them across the entire city to minimize the amount of pollution and litter and to help protect the local wildlife. The results have been impressive and the town is proud of their system. The only downside is that these nets cost upwards of $10,000and the process can seem lengthy, but most of the townspeople believe that it is well worth the investment when it comes to the cleanup of their town. All it takes is a small start to spark change not only in the community, but also the world.
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