Collecting debris from a Rochester LittaTrap site. NOAA funding will expand this effort to Buffalo and Syracuse. Credit: Jacob Anderson/NYSG
Contact:
Jake Anderson, NYSG Water Quality Specialist, E: ja843@cornell.edu, P: (585) 672-7065
NYSG applies cutting-edge technology and community engagement to create actionable solutions to protect Great Lakes’ ecosystems and urban communities
Rochester, NY, May 27, 2025 - Stormwater debris clogs infrastructure, harms urban waterways, and contributes to 2.75 million pounds of plastic pollution annually in Lake Ontario. These issues disproportionately affect underserved communities and threaten the Great Lakes. Addressing this challenge requires innovative approaches to debris interception, expanded community outreach, and scalable solutions to protect local, regional, and national water resources. With $1.2 million in NOAA funding, New York Sea Grant (NYSG) is scaling proven methods and advancing technologies to tackle marine debris, protect the Great Lakes, and engage communities in sustainable environmental solutions that deliver measurable impacts.
NYSG, the Rochester Institute of Technology and local partners collaborated to install LittaTraps in 14 storm drains. Samples of stormwater debris from the traps are collected monthly, weighed, sorted as anthropogenic or organic, and categorized by type of material. The data is extended to the community through educational efforts, such as youth recreation center programming, after school clubs, and in-school programs by a Rochester City School District Nature-Based Learning Coach (47 hours of instruction provided in 2024). Community/neighborhood cleanups collect trash (weighed and sorted) that would otherwise eventually enter storm drains.
This project combines hands-on community engagement, stormwater curriculum, and cleanups, resulting in measurable debris reduction and has prevented more than 60 pounds of debris from directly entering the local stormwater system. Community cleanups collected 300 pounds (10,152 pieces of debris). The debris included cigarette butts and tobacco products, food wrappers and containers, metals among other items. More than 100 community members and 150 students were engaged by educational programs and cleanups, significantly raising awareness about stormwater pollution.
In 2025, the project will expand to Buffalo and Syracuse, and 50 additional LittaTraps will be installed in Rochester. This new effort is expected to intercept an estimated 10,000 pounds of debris and establish a foundation to provide long-term environmental benefits for these urban communities and the Great Lakes.
Project Partners/funders:
• Rochester Institute of Technology
• Monroe County Dept. of Environmental Services
• City of Rochester Departments of Recreation & Human Services and Environmental Services
• H2O Hero
• Rochester City School District
• Museum and Science Center
• Seneca Park Zoo
• Shawn Goburn/SRG Management Firm
• Syracuse University
• University at Buffalo
• Funding: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
More Info: New York Sea Grant
Established in 1966, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s National Sea Grant College Program promotes the informed stewardship of coastal resources in 34 joint federal/state university-based programs in every U.S. coastal state (marine and Great Lakes) and Puerto Rico. The Sea Grant model has also inspired similar projects in the Pacific region, Korea and Indonesia.
Since 1971, New York Sea Grant (NYSG) has represented a statewide network of integrated research, education and extension services promoting coastal community economic vitality, environmental sustainability and citizen awareness and understanding about the State’s marine and Great Lakes resources.
NYSG historically leverages on average a 3 to 6-fold return on each invested federal dollar, annually. We benefit from this, as these resources are invested in Sea Grant staff and their work in communities right here in New York.
Through NYSG’s efforts, the combined talents of university scientists and extension specialists help develop and transfer science-based information to many coastal user groups—businesses and industries, federal, state and local government decision-makers and agency managers, educators, the media and the interested public.
New York Sea Grant, one of the largest of the state Sea Grant programs, is a cooperative program of the State University of New York (SUNY) and Cornell University. The program maintains Great Lakes offices at Cornell University, SUNY Buffalo, Rochester Institute of Technology, SUNY Oswego, the Wayne County Cooperative Extension office in Newark, and in Watertown. In the State's marine waters, NYSG has offices at Stony Brook University and with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Nassau County on Long Island, in Queens, at Brooklyn College, with Cornell Cooperative Extension in NYC, in Bronx, with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County in Kingston, and with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Westchester County in Elmsford.
For updates on Sea Grant activities: www.nyseagrant.org, follow us on social media (Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, Bluesky, LinkedIn, and YouTube). NYSG offers a free e-list sign up via www.nyseagrant.org/nycoastlines for its flagship publication, NY Coastlines/Currents, which it publishes 2-3 times a year.