He’s the hero we need, and the hero we deserve. Meet Mr. Trash Wheel, the googly-eyed, spinning trash trap who patrols the Baltimore Harbor, devouring hundreds of tons of litter and debris each year.
Keeping litter out of waterways is already a win, but here’s the really good news: After Maryland banned polystyrene foam in 2020 and Baltimore banned plastic bags in 2021, based on an analysis of Mr. Trash Wheel’s haul, the harbor has gotten cleaner. The friendly floating trash traphas picked up 90% less foam and 72% less plastic bags.
Mr. Trash Wheel is not going it alone. He is accompanied in the harbor by his trash wheel family: Professor Trash Wheel, Captain Trash Wheel and Gwynnda the Good Wheel of the West. (These very real names were voted on by the public after the Order of the Wheel, a trash wheel secret society, selected the finalists.)
Since 2017, trash wheels and other trash traps around the world, with and without googly eyes, have collected more than six million pounds of trash from waterways.
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