A local community group plans to stop waste washing into the Peel river by constructing 'trash racks' on Tamworth's storm water outflows.
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Project manager Guy McIntosh from OzFish said the racks would act like trawler nets for rubbish flowing from storm water drains.
Without them everything from bottles and cans to vegetation like leaves washes through the storm water system directly into the river, he said.
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"At the moment it's unfiltered. Everything that's left in the gutters ends up in the Peel river. Nothing is filtered or stopped," he said.
"(We're hoping) to minimise it or eliminate it all."
And at a cost of just $20,000 care of the Federal government, it's a cheap investment for a major ecological benefit, he said.
Many councils across Australia have already installed the steel grates.
OzFish has around a year to complete the project, which will be installed by prisoners at the Tamworth Correctional Centre.
Councillor Mark Rodda said the it was a "great initiative" that is "long overdue".
"Anything we can do to reduce the waste that goes into the water ways harming the fish and native flora and fauna is good," he said.
He said the Peel carries any gunk that runs into the river downstream for other communities to deal with.
"I think we need to be good neighbors to our adjoining towns and villages and keep that rubbish out of the waterway system."
But who will clean out the trash racks as they get full of rubbish?
One candidate is workers from Tamworth Regional Council. TRC were contacted for this story but did not commit either way.