Trash Trapping Program Traps 147,000 Pieces of Plastic from Lake Ontario in Latest Cleanup Effort

Plastic pollution in Toronto’s harbour often goes unseen, but its impact becomes clear when it is measured. Between May and October 2025, the innovative environmental initiative intercepted and removed 525 kilograms of anthropogenic debris from the harbour and Lake Ontario, diverting nearly 147,418 individual items before they could travel farther into the ecosystem.

The Trash Trapping Program, led by the Toronto Port Authority in partnership with the University of Toronto Trash Team, uses a network of trash‑trapping technologies, including Seabins, WasteSharks, LittaTraps and skimming, to capture and remove floating litter from the Toronto harbour. Materials collected are counted and characterized by U of T Trash Team researchers, generating consistent annual data that informs research and supports broader waterfront sustainability goals, including the Toronto Inner Harbour Floatables Strategy to reduce floatable plastic in the harbour. Enabling the advancement of evidence-based research, community outreach, and stakeholder engagement, the program is a key measure supporting the U of T Trash Team’s goal of increasing waste literacy and reducing plastic pollution at the source.

Key Program Results and Findings in 2025

Waste Diversion by Weight

• A total of 525 kg of anthropogenic debris (man‑made waste) was diverted from Lake Ontario.

Waste Diversion by Numbers

• Large items collected: 69,915
• Small items collected: 77,503
• Total diverted: 147,418 items

Waste Diversion by Type

• Top large items: food wrappers, plastic bottle caps (first time in top three), cigarette butts
• Top small item: foam pieces, consistent with previous years and likely reflecting construction‑related sources
• Other top items: large plastic foam, small plastic bags, straws and stirrers, additional tobacco products, foam packaging, plastic film pieces, balloons, plastic cups and plates

To learn more about the data collected in 2025, visit the U of T Trash Team website.

This year, overall counts and weights are consistent with previous years’ findings. We hope in the future we observe less plastic pollution due to policy change. The program continues to monitor pollution and highlight persistent sources of plastic debris to Lake Ontario via Toronto. Annual quantification and characterization of debris remains essential for understanding patterns of pollution, informing outreach and engagement efforts, and supporting upstream prevention strategies and policy interventions.

Outlook for 2026

The Trash Trapping Program will continue in 2026, enhanced by the addition of a new type of trash trap known as a Collec’thor. Fully electric, easy to use and quiet in operation, the Collec’thor can hold up to 100 kilograms of waste consisting of micro and macro litter floating on the water’s surface. Three new Collec’thors will be deployed at the Outer Harbour Marina owned by the Toronto Port Authority and will be added to the solutions tested by the U of T Trash Team researchers along the Toronto inner harbour in the coming season.

Quotes

“Each year, this program reinforces that while we are removing significant quantities of trash from our waters, there is still work to do to reduce floating marine litter at the source. Our partnership with the University of Toronto Trash Team, and the robust annual data they collect, enables us to refine our approach and reinforce commitments under the Toronto Inner Harbour Floatables Strategy to work towards cleaner, healthier waters in the Toronto harbour.”

– RJ Steenstra, President and CEO, Toronto Port Authority

“In addition to cleaning up Lake Ontario, our program contributes to local monitoring to inform trends over time and local sources of plastic pollution. Plastic pollution threatens wildlife in our Great Lakes. Our cleanup efforts reduce the threat, and our dataset informs future positive change to reduce the emissions of plastic pollution from the City of Toronto to Lake Ontario.”

– Dr. Chelsea Rochman, Head of Operations at the U of T Trash Team

Background

About the Toronto Port Authority Trash Trapping Program

Led by the Toronto Port Authority and the U of T Trash Team, the Trash Trapping Program employs trash trapping technology and solutions-based research to tackle plastic pollution and protect Toronto’s waters for future generations. Since being established in 2019, the Trash Trapping Program has removed hundreds of thousands of small pieces of plastic pollution from the Toronto harbour and has influenced the launch of similar trash trapping and data collection programs throughout the Great Lakes and beyond. It is part of the Toronto Inner Harbour Floatables Strategy led by a network of collaborating organizations, and of the International Trash Trapping Network, an initiative led by the U of T Trash Team and Ocean Conservancy. Partners include Swim Drink Fish, the Waterfront Business Improvement Area and the City of Toronto BIA Office Innovation Grant, Nieuport Aviation, the Toronto Zoo, Harbourfront Centre and Toronto and Region Conservation Authority. More information: Trash Trapping Program – Toronto Port Authority | Watch the Trash Trapping Program video on YouTube.

About the Toronto Inner Harbour Floatables Strategy

The Toronto Inner Harbour Floatables Strategy (Floatables Strategy) is a collaborative strategy with a mission to reduce plastic pollution and other floating litter in the harbour. It is a collaboration between the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, the Toronto Remedial Action Plan, University of Toronto Trash Team, Toronto Port Authority, City of Toronto, Swim Drink Fish, Waterfront Business Improvement Area, Harbourfront Centre, and Waterfront Toronto. Partners in Project Green oversees the Floatables Strategy on behalf of the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority. More information: The Toronto Inner Harbour Floatables Strategy – Partners in Project Green.

About the University of Toronto Trash Team

The U of T Trash Team is a science-based community outreach organization made up of undergraduate and graduate students, postdocs, researchers, local volunteers and staff all working together with a common goal to increase waste literacy in our community while reducing plastic pollution in our ecosystems. The organization was founded in 2017 in collaboration with the Rochman Lab, part of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Toronto. More information: U of T Trash Team – Increasing Waste Literacy to Fight Plastic Pollution.

About plastic waste in Lake Ontario

The Great Lakes provide essential ecosystem services, accounting for 20% of the world’s available fresh surface water, providing habitat for aquatic and terrestrial species, and serving as the primary source of drinking water for over 80% of Ontarians. Nonetheless, estimates project that the Great Lakes hold 6 million pieces of plastic per square kilometre, with an estimated 10,000 metric tons of plastic entering the lakes each year. A perceptive observer walking along our shoreline may recognize a variety of anthropogenic debris floating on the water surface, such as food wrappers, bottle caps, and packaging. Equally important, however, is the less identifiable, smaller anthropogenic debris, including microplastics, which can accumulate in wildlife and have adverse health effects. These large and small types of anthropogenic debris accumulate in the sediments and shorelines of the Great Lakes. Projects like the Trash Trapping Program, focused on cleanup, monitoring, and the prevention of plastic pollution in our Great Lakes, can inform effective solutions and reduce risks to humans and wildlife. Through cleanup efforts, field research, and community outreach, we aim to protect the many services the Great Lakes provide.