Enviropod Canada has been working with the City of Barrie since 2019 when we installed a single LittaTrap as a pilot study to understand the nature of litter loading in pedestrian areas in the downtown area. By placing one LittaTrap unit outside a pedestrian hotspot on Dunlop Street, the trial identified patterns such as the busiest months and types of litter discarded, and monitored the effect of snow melt on the unit.
BetweenJune-December 2019, the LittaTrap unit caught a total of 473 gross pollutants. Almost 60 percent of all pollutants were cigarettes, a trend across all LittaTrap trials as the number one pollutant of our waterways.
The rest of the loading was made up of plastic food wrappers, confetti, chewing gum, polystyrene and a hypodermic needle. These pollutants all cause significant damage to our waterways, and as toxic pollutants, it is critical to remove them from our waterways.
During this time frame, Enviropod also established a connection between the season and the total number of pollutants reaching the LittaTrap. The summer months (June-September) received significantly higher loadings the winter months (October-December). This highlights the need for increased LittaTrap usage and more public awareness campaigns on proper trash management practices during the busier summer months.
With the success of the pilot, the City installed 112 x LittaTraps in high pedestrian and waterfront litter hotspot locations in downtown City of Barrie.
“City staff are always looking for ways to help protect the environment. For our team that means looking at ways of treating and reducing the impacts of stormwater pollution on water bodies. The new LittaTrap Pilot Program looks to reduce stormwater pollution downtown and we hope to quantify this into 2022. This initiative also helps support building a greener Barrie, one of City Council’s goals.”
Jacob Reid Supervisor of Technical & Stormwater Operations at City of Barrie
To read more on the project , find the Project Profile HERE.
