First River Trash Collector In U.S. Brought To Ballona Creek In LA

PLAYA DEL REY, CA — New technology dubbed "The Interceptor" will collect trash from Ballona Creek before it hits the ocean — and it's the first of its kind to operate in the U.S., according to media reports.

About 60,000 pounds of trash travels from the creek to the ocean each year and this trash gathering technology is working to stop it, Santa Monica Daily Press reports.

The device was created by The Ocean Cleanup, a Dutch nonprofit organization. It will be installed near the Pacific Avenue Bridge, about 500 feet downstream, near the mouth of the Ballona Creek. It's placed there to use the river's natural flow and has a mechanical ramp that collects debris inside floating dumpsters.

“The recent storm event on March 28 demonstrates that trash remains a significant issue. And any trash that does not get captured makes its way out into the ocean, and ultimately back into the nearby Marina Del Rey and the beach at Playa Del Rey,” Mark Pestrella, Director of Los Angeles County Public Works, told SMDP. “The trash and debris that accumulated along the beach during that storm are a sobering reminder that additional actions are needed to solve this problem.”

The Ballona Creek watershed covers about 130 square miles ffrom the Santa Monica mountains on the north to the Baldwin Hills on the south, and from the Harbor (110) Freeway on the east to eastern edge of Santa Monica.

Read the full SMDP report.