Most floating debris removed by a trash interceptor in one month

Between 1 and 30 April 2017, Mr. Trash Wheel, operated by the Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore (USA), removed 57.46 tonnes (63.34 US-tons) of debris from the mouth of the Jones Falls River in Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

This total includes both natural and man-made floating debris. According to the WPB's estimates (based on random sampling of the material pulled from the river), this haul likely included some 15,000 plastic bottles, 24,460 chip bags (crisp packets) and 21,000 shopping bags. The debris removed had a volume of 222.48 m3 (291 cubic yards) and filled 18 full-size dumpsters.

Since 2014, when its operators – the Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore (WPB) – began sending what it collected to a local waste-to-energy plant to be weighed and incinerated, Mr. Trash Wheel has prevented 848 tonnes (934.34 US-tons) of debris from reaching Baltimore's Inner Harbour. The Jones Falls River flows down from the northern suburbs of Baltimore, running alongside Interstate 83 for much of its length.

While there's still significant variation from month to month (due to storms washing debris and garbage into the river), the overall volume of material collected by Mr. Trash Wheel has been steadily declining. This is the result of public education efforts and improvements to street cleaning services in the Baltimore area.