Writer: Haleigh Judge at hjudge@agcenter.lsu.edu

(02/22/22) BATON ROUGE, La. — The LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens at Burden was awarded a $500,000 grant by the Environmental Protection Agency Trash Free Waters program to kickstart an effort that will demonstrate how to create trash-free watersheds in Baton Rouge.

The grant represents a collaborative community engagement process centering around neighborhoods most impacted by litter primarily due to the continued increase in single-use items.

Entitled “A Multi-Pronged Approach to Trash-Free Watersheds in Baton Rouge,” the local effort consists of two objectives, the first of which is to reduce and prevent surface trash on city streets by engaging and empowering communities and by working with businesses, LSU and Southern University to implement water-filling stations and replace unsustainable products.

The second objective is to set up demonstration sites at Burden Museum & Gardens and Capital Lakes for data collection, awareness and remediation of trash that makes its way into watersheds by using innovative trash-trap systems that intercept single-use items.

Select product manufacturers also will be encouraged to participate in the process to reduce and prevent their products from ending up in the street or in watersheds. Source reduction and prevention actions may include:

— Replacing Styrofoam products with sustainable packaging.

— Reducing costs and packaging by partnering with businesses ordering similar products.

— Reducing plastic bag use by incentivizing reusable bags.

— Reusable container availability for soft drinks and water.

— Increasing the number of trash and recycling receptacles.

— Incentivized collection areas for PET bottles.

Jeff Kuehny, grant writer and director of the LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens, believes the grant is an important first step in the right direction for trash abatement in the city.

“The grant was written as a collaborative effort between the LSU AgCenter, the Southern University Ag Center, the City of Baton Rouge, the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative, Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality and the Louisiana Stormwater Coalition,” Kuehny said. “This grant represents the two-pronged approach the Louisiana Stormwater Coalition has been advocating that is the solution for less litter and less flooding for Louisiana.”

Burden is an appropriate site for litter abatement demonstrations, he added, as trash has clogged a borrow pit and wetlands around the facility. Gov. John Bel Edwards recently hosted a press conference at the Burden borrow pit to announce a new litter task force and to highlight the issue’s importance statewide.

The EPA grant aims to help stop the flow of trash into the borrow pit and wetlands at Burden. Other efforts are underway to seek additional funding to mitigate the flow of trash into Capital Lakes.

Gov. John Bel Edwards recently hosted a press conference at the Burden borrow pit to announce a new litter task force and to highlight the issue’s importance statewide. Photo by Olivia McClure/LSU AgCenter