Environmental groups team up to clean a creek in Statesboro

STATESBORO, Ga. (WTOC) - A plastic bottle here, a food bag there can add up quickly.

Two local environmental groups are teaming to clean up a creek in Statesboro and beyond.

Organizers of this cleanup say you might think this accumulated pile of trash in the creek, with two yes two basketballs, is unsightly but they say it’s better than letting it all float down stream to the river and beyond.

Floating booms collect trash that flows down Little Lotts Creek.

A team from Ogeechee Riverkeeper and Keep Statesboro-Bulloch Beautiful waded in and filled their nets.

They do this every few weeks to save the trash from floating to the Ogeechee River and eventually the ocean.

They call the project “Don’t Litter Lotts”. They think most people would be surprised how quickly the trash collects but not from people dumping directly in the creek.

“Trash bins that don’t have a lid on top of them. It might be blowing out of the back of vehicles. You might not think of trash in the back of a pickup as a problem. But if the wind catches it it blows out,” Ogeechee Riverkeeper Melanie Sparrow said.

They stretch the booms across the creek to collect the bottles and other trash, while letting the creek continue to flow.

She says they’ll keep using these booms because they’re working.

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