The City of Belleville is being recognized for its leadership in sustainability.
The Great Lakes & St. Lawrence Cities Initiative (Cities Initiative) recognized the work of Belleville, for its urban litter trap project, during the organization’s annual meeting taking place in Chicago.
The litter traps are mesh filters installed in Belleville’s storm drains to catch trash and other debris that get washed into them. Without the traps, the storm drains would carry plastics, cigarette butts, and other pollutants out into the Moira River or Bay of Quinte.
Belleville councillor Chris Malette, head of the Green Task Force, said that the city was very pleased with the results of the traps so far and that they were great at keeping trash out of the local waterways.
“We’re doing what we can to keep the bay as free as we can from some of the plastics in the garbage that would normally find its way out there,” said councillor Malette
Belleville was one of two winning submissions for the Wege Small Cities Sustainability Best Practices Award.
According to a release, the award recognizes projects that “balance economic, social and environmental aspects for protecting water quality that could be used as a best practice inspiration to other cities.”
In addition, Belleville will also be receiving a US$3,750 contribution that will go towards “storm pond naturalization efforts to help improve invasive species mitigation, erosion reduction and pollinator habitat creation.”
