From ABC

(Don’t think this is scalable to large municipalities myself~ctm)

By Gian De Poloni

Updated Sat at 9:20pm

Video: A drain sock stopping litter from polluting local waterways (ABC News)

Cities across the globe are looking to Australia for a simple pollution solution to stop rubbish from spoiling creeks and river systems.

Key points:

• The City of Kwinana drain sock idea went viral internationally on Facebook
• Close by, the City of Cockburn has managed to turn rubbish into road base
• The ideas have attracted attention from as far as Europe and South America

The City of Kwinana, south of Perth, has generated international interest for its drain socks.

In March 2018, nets were fitted to the mouths of two local stormwater drains to trap litter and debris that washed into the system after a rain storm.

Kwinana Mayor Carol Adams said more than 25 million people had since interacted with a single picture of the drain sock in action that the council posted on social media.

“We’re still getting up to five telephone enquiries or email enquiries globally a week from Austin, Texas to the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Zambia and New Zealand,” she said.

“We’ve had calls from Chile, Brazil, Portugal, many European countries — I’ve even been on a Canadian weather station interview.

“Here we are, a city of 42,000 residents who had this really great idea that wasn’t very costly, and we’ve had this amazing response to it.”

Photo: The drain sock captures litter and excess debris. (ABC News: Gian De Poloni)

Ms Adams said the drain socks meant the city now spent less money manually clearing rubbish out of its creek system.

“I think some of the best ideas come from just the easiest and most simple concepts,” she said.

“I think it was the fact that you have a drain and you put a rope net over it and you can physically see the rubbish, the leaves and the debris that was coming out of that drain.

“People connected and thought, ‘I wonder whether that could be used in our city or town’ to fix up some of the issues that they have in their own native reserves.”

Full story with video here.

HT/Earthling2