Cambridge Trash Boom Ribbon Cutting & Cleanup - March 26 🌊
Trash Free Maryland teamed up with Shore Rivers, City of Cambridge, Osprey Initiative, and River Network to install a trash boom (litter interceptor) and conduct a cleanup of Cambridge Creek. Mayor Lajan Cephas officially “opened” the trash boom with a ribbon cutting ceremony on March 26, 2025, to celebrate the successful installation and partnership to prevent trash and litter pollution of the Choptank River. Matt Pluta from Shore Rivers is seen here holding the ribbon. The orange bouys lead to the trash boom at an outlet of Cambridge Creek near Cedar Street in Cambridge, MD.
Trash Free Maryland teamed up with Shore Rivers, the City of Cambridge, Osprey Initiative, and River Network for a project to identify litter hotspots — places where trash and litter enter the waterways — and interventions to prevent trash pollution of the Choptank River.
Working with our partners, Trash Free Maryland mapped litter and identified interventions to prevent trash from flowing to the Choptank River. One intervention will be the trash boom at Cambridge Creek at Cedar Street. The boom will catch litter, while monthly cleanouts will provide data to help decision-makers identify major sources of litter into Cambridge Creek. A trash boom has an immediate litter reduction impact, because it traps litter before it flows further downstream. The data from the trash boom will also have a lasting impact, because it can help identify the primary sources of litter. Knowing the sources of litter helps target litter prevention actions and set priorities for greatest impact as we work toward preventing all trash and litter from entering the environment — our vision for a truly Trash Free Maryland.
This photo shows a trash boom installed by Osprey Initiative at another location.
The new trash boom installation includes two trash booms installed for a tiered effect. The photo shows the first trash boom after installation. The first, upstream boom, will slow the water flow during storm events and enable the second trash boom, which can be seen with the orange buoys floating in the water prior to stretching and connecting it to the opposite bank of the waterway, to catch the remaining litter. The booms extend ~1ft under the surface, catching floating and semi-floating debris while enabling animals to pass below. The booms are attached to trees or non-permanent moveable posts on the banks of the outlet. The sections of rope around the tree are enclosed in recycled fire hose to protect the tree against abrasion or other damage while the boom moves and responds to tidal water level fluctuations.
The installation of the trash boom is part of a new partnership between Trash Free Maryland and the City of Cambridge, Shore Rivers, Osprey Initiative, and River Network, to identify opportunities to catch and prevent litter through interventions and education and outreach to inspire behavior change.
Osprey Initiative provided training in data collection categories and methods. Data collection includes not just the type of litter, but information on how long it has been in the environment (e.g., how degraded it is). Knowing both the type and how long it has been since it was discarded can help identify sources of trash, including whether it is active littering or a legacy dump site that is releasing trash during major storms and other high water flow events.
Trash Free Maryland Executive Director, Kelly Doordan, briefs volunteers before the cleanup and provides an overview of some of the effective policies for trash prevention under consideration in Maryland. Our cleanup volunteers also learn how data from cleanups can help inform and increase impact. Trash Free Maryland uses cleanup data collected from around Maryland to inform policy positions and identify effective policies that would have the greatest impact on trash and litter prevention in Maryland.
As part of our installation event, we coordinated with the local community to conduct a cleanup of Cambridge Creek upstream of the new trash boom. The cleanup event provided an opportunity to highlight the importance of trash and litter prevention policies, as we collected almost twenty bags of trash and recyclable materials dumped in the Cambridge Creek watershed.
Cleanup volunteers pulled 20 contractor bags of trash and recyclable material from Cambridge Creek during a one-hour cleanup. Items removed from the creek included more than 300 beverage containers (cans and bottles). We found only a few pieces of foam, and those were mostly broken down coolers or packaging, demonstrating the general effectiveness of the foam food packaging ban in place in Maryland. Trash and litter policies have an impact on the ground!
Event Partners:
