Empowering Students to Protect Their Local Marine Environment

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Project Overview:

When students from Wilford School participated in the Experiencing Marine Reserves programme, they discovered first-hand the impact that litter was having on their local marine environment.

After snorkelling in Taputeranga Marine Reserve and comparing it with their local snorkelling site at Lowry Bay, the students identified marine litter as the environmental issue they wanted to address.

Rather than focusing on cleaning litter from the beach, the students chose to tackle the problem at its source by monitoring the rubbish entering roadside stormwater drains. With support from Stormwater360, two EnviroPod™ LittaTrap™ systems were installed to capture and measure the litter before it reached the ocean.

The project became a powerful example of how education, community engagement, and at-source stormwater treatment can work together to drive environmental change.

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The Challenge:

Many people are unaware that stormwater drains discharge directly into rivers, streams, and the ocean without treatment.

The Wilford School students wanted to:

• Understand how much litter was entering the stormwater network.
• Identify the types of pollutants being washed into local waterways.
• Raise awareness within their community about the connection between littering and marine pollution.

By capturing litter before it reached Lowry Bay, the students hoped to inspire positive behavioural change.

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The Solution:

Stormwater360 donated two EnviroPod™ LittaTrap™ catch basin inserts to support the monitoring programme.

The LittaTrap™ units were installed in two contrasting locations along Jackson Street:

• A busy commercial area surrounded by cafés, restaurants, and retail stores.
• A nearby residential neighbourhood.

This allowed students to compare the quantity and type of litter generated from different land uses while preventing the captured material from entering the marine environment.

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Results:

Over a 12-week monitoring period, the two LittaTrap™ units captured:

2,680 pieces of litter

This represented 2,680 pieces of rubbish that did not reach the ocean.

The captured material included:

• Cigarette butts
• Plastic packaging
• Aluminium cans
• Polystyrene
• Broken glass
• Timber
• Soft drink bottles
• Drinking straws
• Food wrappers
• Cardboard
• Fabric
• Parking tickets
• Library receipts

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Key Findings:

• 50% of all litter captured consisted of cigarette butts.
• The commercial catch basin collected significantly more litter than the residential location.
• The results highlighted the direct relationship between land use and stormwater pollution.

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Understanding the Bigger Picture:

Using the monitoring data, the students calculated the potential annual litter load entering Lowry Bay.

Their findings showed:

• One stormwater drain could transport approximately 5,720 pieces of litter per year.
• With 93 stormwater drains discharging into Lowry Bay, this equates to an estimated:

531,960 pieces of litter entering the marine environment every year

The exercise demonstrated how even small amounts of litter entering individual drains can have a significant cumulative environmental impact.

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Community Impact:

At the conclusion of the project, the students presented their findings to parents, community members, and local councillors.

By displaying the litter collected during the trial, they provided a powerful visual demonstration of the scale of pollution entering the stormwater system.

The presentation generated strong community support and reinforced the importance of preventing litter at its source.

The project also highlighted the important role young people can play in influencing environmental awareness and encouraging positive community action.

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Why LittaTrap™?

The LittaTrap™ provided an ideal solution for the project because it:

• Captured litter before it entered waterways.
• Enabled students to monitor and quantify stormwater pollution.
• Retrofitted easily into existing catch basins.
• Required simple maintenance.
• Created valuable educational opportunities around stormwater and water quality.

Beyond pollutant capture, the LittaTrap™ became a practical tool for community engagement and environmental education.

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Conclusion:

The Wilford School project demonstrated that meaningful environmental change often begins with education.

By installing just two LittaTrap™ units, students prevented 2,680 pieces of litter from reaching the ocean while uncovering the much larger scale of stormwater pollution affecting their local coastline.

The project inspired conversations throughout the community and showed how understanding pollution at its source can empower people to take action.

Through a combination of monitoring, education, and practical stormwater treatment, the students helped highlight a simple but powerful message:

Every piece of litter stopped at the storm drain is one less piece reaching our waterways.