You may have seen litter and debris collecting in stormwater drains after a heavy rain, but did you know that demount­able litter traps (DLTs) can be installed to collect the debris? Litter and floating plastics tend to end up in sheltered beaches and bays from storm­water pipes and pose a hazard to human health, marine life and other wildlife.

To help combat this, a small selection of stormwater outfall pipes in the Brighton munici­pality have had DLTs installed to help prevent pollution from escaping into the environ­ment. Initial inspections of these DLTs have shown a large number of bottles and cans being caught. CSIRO research­ers are working with Brighton Council staff to continue mon­itoring and record how much and what type of litter is being caught in the traps.

This will also help determine whether enough bottles and cans can be caught in the traps to fund the economic value of the DLTs once the Container Refund Scheme (CRS) comes into effect in 2023.