Don Bates was born to be an outdoorsman. His family in Louisiana was composed of commercial fishermen, largely catching catfish and crabs.

“I grew up doing that for fun,” he said. “My life has been around water. It’s always been around water.”

It was that love of water that moved Bates to found Osprey Initiative and to create the Litter Gitter boom system for collecting trash on waterways. Bates and his crew installed the latest Litter Gitter on Friday in Village Creek off of Docena Cut Off Road behind the Jefferson County Environmental Services Pump Station.

The device will capture litter and other debris as it flows downstream from Birmingham, preventing it from entering Bayview Lake.

Jefferson County is investing $125,000 a year for three years for a total of five Litter Gitter devices. There are more of the devices in the metro area but those five are what Jefferson County is supporting. The devices can be moved around as needed.

The Litter Gitter on Village Creek is the last of the five to be installed. The county also sponsored the devices in a section of Five Mile Creek, Fuller Creek and another tributary of the Cahaba River, and Beaver Creek.

“The county as a whole is very excited that over a three-year period of time (it has spent) $125,000 a year, a $375,000 investment that we will be doing to help to keep our waterways clean,” said Lashunda Scales, who chairs the Jefferson County Commission’s Environmental Services Committee. “With our Roads and Transportation Department, we’re looking to now be very intentional about keeping our right of ways as clean and free of litter as we possibly can.

“We know that as we continue to move forward, our waterways will be for the better because of all of our partners,” the commissioner continued. “This partnership today is transformative, and I believe it’s going to be life-changing for those who are very concerned about our environment. This is the way that we’re going to do it in Jefferson County.”

The county’s initiative involves litter-collecting devices at five locations to collect litter and trash from rivers, lakes and streams in Jefferson County. The Osprey Initiative will be responsible for regular maintenance and cleaning of those devices.

Bates said he was working for Thompson Engineering and thought he would retire from that company when he came up with an idea for a litter trap. He thought then it was just a hobby, but it has grown to be much more.

“The Litter Gitter was started as a side hustle for me seven years ago,” he said. “Our first project in the Jefferson County area was five years ago. It was protecting urban water in a neighborhood. Two hundred bags of trash came out of a quarter-mile section of stream, and everybody knew once that rain came, that litter was coming. We decided to develop a small trap that we’ll place right there. There are excellent big traps out there but that doesn’t do any good to put it at the end of the water for people who want to be at pretty water right here.”

Bates said collected trash is measured for weight and volume, with plastics and metal separated for recycling. Data is collected on the types, condition and branding of the trash to build profiles.

“With no data, we can’t develop a plan that focuses on the source,” he said. “Picking up the same litter over and over again without trying to prevent the litter in the first place is the definition of insanity, in my opinion.”

Trash dropped on the ground or thrown out of vehicles eventually travels to water bodies due to runoff, degrading water quality and endangering wildlife. Jefferson County aims to combat the issue by funding the installation of these devices as part of its waste diversion program.

The program also includes collaborating with other organizations to offer free materials and resources for residents who want to hold volunteer roadside cleanup events in their community and to support and fund “Litter Quitters” – a high school anti-litter video competition, three electronic drop-off and paper shredding events and two household hazardous waste collection events.

The Osprey Initiative owner said he was more than impressed with the scenery at Bayview Lake.

“I’m like, here’s another little spot in Alabama that belongs on the cover of National Geographic. It’s beautiful,” he said. “This is the beginning of working to protect that water. And if you can’t protect the water in your back yard, I really don’t want to hear your opinions about water every place else.”

Bates said he and his crew will be in the water of Village Creek every time it rains, cleaning out debris and then working downstream.

“We have some other corporate partners interested in Bayview Lake,” he said. “By building these intersection points, we can intercept that litter. Our team’s gonna be on it, helping this water for the local kids to be able to come see a place where there are tadpoles and doing what we grew up being able to do. Our mission and our passion is making sure we’re doing that for the community so they can come back to this water.”