Litter Exploration via Trash Capture Devices in Pinole

During a beautiful gap in the rain, Pinole Valley High students were able to get out in the sun for our November weekend event! This past Saturday the 15th, thanks to collaborations with the City of Pinole, interns were able to audit the contents of local trash capture devices. The students spent the past week learning about how Trash Capture Devices (TCDs) help prevent litter from entering the bay in our local watershed. According to the City of Pinole’s website, “Trash capture devices are tools for reducing the impacts of trash on water bodies. Trash capture devices can be installed in existing and new catch basins to keep litter and other debris carried by stormwater from entering the storm drain system and flowing to Pinole Creek and San Francisco Bay”. Interns were also trained on using Survey123 software to analyze specific litter types.

In order to assess the viability of TCDs, and examine what kinds and what quantity of litter are appearing in the TCDs, interns audited the contents of different TCDs around Pinole. TCD contents were collected from 10 different devices around the city, namely on Fitzgerald Dr, San Pablo Ave, and Pinole Valley Road. Contents were collected on 10/21, and then again on 11/12, leaving us with 20 different bags to audit. Interns split up into four groups, where they filled out the Litter Survey on Survey123, and examined every piece of debris in the contents. Intern Mia said that she “was surprised that there was less trash, and more organic materials, which is good”. Intern Camila said that she “was surprised by how the trash were different types and sizes in different areas” of TCDs. 

Overall, interns observed mostly plastics and mixed materials, like candy wrappers and food packaging film. However, the amount of trash was fairly minimal, with roughly less than a pound per bag. This likely means that either there is less litter, or that street sweeping is also being affective at collecting trash. It was rewarding to found out that the litter management strategies seem to be working, and that the TCDs were preventing litter from entering the local waterways.

Each group shared the most interesting piece of trash that they found:

Thank you to our grant sponsors at the U.S. EPA, for funding our internship program, and for our project partners at Sacramento State University and the City of Pinole, for supporting our work. A special thank you to the Public Works team at City of Pinole for providing the TCD contents and opening up space for us on a Saturday!