Newport Bay Trash Interceptor

Font Size: + -

Feedback Print

The City of Newport Beach has completed the construction of the innovative Newport Bay Trash Interceptor in March 2025 and is actively collecting and removing floating trash and debris from San Diego Creek (Photo 1) before this trash load enters the environmentally sensitive Upper Newport Bay Marine Preserve (Photo 2). The Preserve is designated as a State Marine Conservation Area and a critical part of Southern California's coastal estuarine environment. Removing trash and debris before it enters Upper Newport Bay reduces the threat to Newport Bay’s marine life and prevents trash from becoming entangled in the tidal marsh vegetation around the bay. It also prevents subsequent transport of trash and debris into Newport Harbor and out into the ocean where it presently accumulates along the coastline and within the sensitive Area of Special Biological Significance along Newport Coast.

Photos 1 and 2- The Trash Interceptor project is located on San Diego Creek just upstream of the Jamboree Road Bridge

The Trash Interceptor project consists of a floating Trash Wheel, rail system, and the landside improvements that provide truck access to the dumpsters located on the rail sled. The Trash Wheel is a moored vessel and is secured in place by guide piles designed to withstand storm flow forces and changes in water surface elevations. Two booms direct the trash and debris toward the Trash Wheel (Photo 3).

Rotating trash rakes convey floating trash and debris onto a conveyor (Photo 4) that then moves the trash up and into two dumpsters (Photo 5) that sit within a sled mounted to a short rail system. The trash rakes and the conveyor belt are powered by the rotating 14-foot diameter Water Wheel that in turn is powered by solar power.

Photo 3- View of Trash Interceptor in construction looking downstream on San Diego Creek. The first flush of trash and debris is captured in the booms. The boom has a 2-foot curtain that extends below the boom floats. Booms are designed to break free from the Trash Wheel during high velocity flows and drape along the shore still fastened to the bank piles. After the storm, staff will use a skiff to reattach the booms to the Trash Wheel.

Photos 4 and 5- The Trash Interceptor in construction showing the Water Wheel, the adjacent water tower and the conveyor. The second Photo shows the first of the two dumpsters being filled from the conveyor. Both dumpsters set on top of the rail sled.

All components on the Trash Interceptor are covered by a canopy cover that is fit over a steel support structure (Photos 6 and 7).

Photos 6 and 7- The steel support structure is roughly the size of the torso of a blue whale. Note that the battery cabinets can been seen on the deck of the floating Trash Interceptor. Photo 6 shows the canvas canopy fabricated in pieces, then fused together, and finally fitted over the support structure. The solar panels have not yet been installed on top of the Trash Interceptor.

Once the dumpsters are full, the dumpster sled is winched landward on a 90-foot-long rail, and the dumpsters emptied by a standard front-loading trash truck (Photos 8 and 9).

Photos 8 and 9- The two dumpsters sit in a rail sled that is winched landward to be collected by a standard front-loading trash truck. A new roadway was constructed down the flood bank to access a turnaround area for the truck.

With installation of the solar panel, the Trash Interceptor construction is completed (Photo 10). The solar panels charge the battery banks located on the Trash Interceptor. The batteries run small pumps that pump creek water into a pump tower (Photo 10) with discharge into the vanes of the Water Wheel. The turning Water Wheel, through a gear box and chain drives, runs the conveyor and rakes.

Photo 10- The completed Trash Interceptor. Note that the rakes are in a raised position.

The landside facilities are powered by a separate array of solar panels located at Power Pavilion located at the top of the creek banks (Photo 11). The facility includes battery cabinets, central control panel, and other controls.

Photo 11- The Power Pavilion is located at the top of the creek banks out of the 100-year flood zone.

During this past rain season, while still in construction, the Trash Interceptor captured approximately 50 to 60 cubic yards of trash and debris (Photo 12). It is expected that there will be significantly large trash/debris capture next year in the range of 200 to 300 cubic yards. As a first step toward source tracking of trash, the City is working with a UCSB research group, the Benioff Ocean Science Laboratory who have installed a video camera over the conveyor that is linked to an artificial intelligence system with the aim of identifying and quantifying components of trash.

The Trash Interceptor has already garnered excitement and attention from local and state representatives and coastal communities with similar trash management issues that are impacting coastal communities. A video of the Trash Interceptor ribbon cutting event and how it operates is provided at the following link:

The Trash Interceptor Ribbon cutting event was attended by City officials, City Mayor, local and state representatives, resource agencies, and local non-profit organizations. A highly visible and innovative trash collection system provides educational opportunities to promote up-stream source control and supplement municipal separate storm sewer systems trash-capture devices to meet State Trash Amendment goals and address impacts on coastal estuaries and beaches from upstream trash and debris.

Photo 12- About 80 percent of the captured material is vegetative debris that grows in the creek. The captured trash component includes bottles, Styrofoam debris, spray cans, a variety of sport balls, pallets, drink coolers, ladders, and the occasional mattress. Surprisingly, or perhaps not, there were no plastic bags.

The Trash Interceptor is now an important part of the City’s goal to protect and preserve the open water, intertidal, subtidal, riparian and upland habitats of Upper Newport Bay. The City expects Trash Interceptor will play a part in encouraging and engaging the residents and the neighboring communities in taking a more active role to protect and restore the watershed by demonstrating water quality impacts and stressors and demonstrating innovative mitigation opportunities. The City longer term goal is to encourage students to participate in the watershed sciences and engineering, coastal habitat conservation, and natural resource management and become the next generation’s experts in promoting ecological principals and green enterprise.

Clearwater Mills (John Kellett, Owner) is the inventor of Baltimore’s Mr. Trash Wheel, which is the model the Newport Bay Trash Interceptor is based upon. The preliminary engineering design for the Newport Bay Trash Interceptor was prepared by the City of Newport Beach (Bob Stein, Program Manager). Design and permitting were performed by Burns & McDonnell, Inc. (David Pohl, Project Manager) supported by Tidal Influence and Anchor QEA. Construction with enhanced Trash Wheel design was performed by Jilk Heavy Construction (David van Warner, Construction Manager). Significant grant funding for the design and construction was provided by the Ocean Protection Council, Orange County Transportation Authority, and Department of Water Resources.