An Interview with Brian Deurloo

How it started

Brian Deurloo is the founder of Frog Creek Partners- born and raised in rural Wyoming, later received a mining engineering degree. After working in that industry for several years, Brian found an interest in storm water pollution after learning more about how storm sewers work and the amount of debris that makes its way directly off the streets into our waterways. One kind of pollution that inspired his interest the most was cigarette butts. Brian is passionate about the environment and observed how many polluted cigarette butts made their way into waterways. A study through national geographic substantiated this to him, as it showed that 1 cigarette butt put into a 1L jug of water with 10 minnows, will kill half of the small fish. This is specifically related to the toxicity of the tobacco and other toxins present in cigarettes, as well as their ability to leach into water so easily (E. Slaughter, 2010). They have potent insecticide and neurotoxic effects that can have a serious impact on water quality-with these changes, it has a high potential of poisoning both flora and fauna.

Brian initially brainstormed ways to remove cigarette butts from the environment, one being adding a magnetic piece in the filter to make them retrievable with a magnet. One morning Brian woke up with a new idea, and went straight to work to create a filter that could be attached to any storm drain, to filter storm water through a catch basin and filter. He found himself at Walmart, at 4am in the morning buying the supplies to create the prototype. After a couple days it was complete and a patent application was submitted for his device! A few months later he submitted his Gutter Bin prototype into the Wyoming Technology Business Center Startup Challenge and his device was one of the winners! Shorty after winning this contest, Frog Creek Partners contacted the city of Sheridan, Wyoming seeing if they would be interested in being a part of their pilot project and they were very happy to try the Gutter Bin, since they had issues with debris during their storm runoff seasons. After seeing a lot of success in Sheridan and installing more Gutter Bins in their community, Frog Creek Partners has expanded and are providing Gutter Bins to many different clients across the map!

Lets Talk Gutter Bins!

First, did you know that any trash and debris you see in the streets goes directly into the storm drain, and makes its way into the river unfiltered? This is a big issue because many pollutants find their way into the environment- especially in hotspots where there is a lot of human activity (ie. downtown core, outside of event venues, restaurants, bars, etc). Common storm water pollutants are trash, microplastics, sediment, hydrocarbons (oils), nutrients (ie. fertilizer), heavy metals, tire treads, cigarette butts and more! Cigarette butts are a common pollutant that have a big environmental impact, as mentioned above with the toxicity of nicotine to animals and insects. Its estimated that a total of 4,000,000,000,000+ cigarette butts are littered each year, many of which end up in waterways with storm runoff.

The Gutter Bin is a great, innovative device that can help reduce the amount of pollution making its way into storm drains while still ensuring the storm water can make its way through with its overflow system (the largest available on the market!). It also has a back-trap design so once debris has gone into it, it can’t get back out- only the water can! The Gutter Bin is a steel funnel that directs storm water through a mundus bag which filters out any sediment or debris! It is modular and scalable- fitting any storm drain as they are all very unique! The Gutter Bin also has customizable filters for your areas specific needs- weather hydrocarbons, microplastics, or sediment, they have you covered! There are also several models of Gutter Bins- CIF, DIF,CFS and OGB. See their selection of Gutter Bins and filters in the figures below.

Clean and Measured Pollution Service

This service is a regionally based in Wyoming and Colorado and is run by Frog Creek directly. The mundus filtration bags in the Gutter Bin are collected, and weighed typically 3-4 times/yr. This data is shared on an app, and the clients are contacted regularly to let them know how much and what kinds of pollution are being trapped in their device.

For example, Brian mentioned that a single Gutter Bin in the Denver area collected over 600lbs in a single year!

Clean Water Community Challenge

As mentioned above, the community of Sheridan, Wyoming were a part of Frog Creek Partners pilot project and installed several Gutter Bins in their town as part of the Sheridan Challenge. The engineering and Public Works Department really liked the results- the storm water was very clean and it saved them money by preventing them from having to clean out storm lines due to sediment buildup. This encouraged cornerstone businesses to donate the money for a Gutter Bin to be installed infront of their establishment, adorned with their company colours or logo.

This became the Clean Water Community challenge and a business model for their company- having businesses sponsor to have Gutter Bins installed in their community. This is beneficial for the company, city, as well as the environment- win-win! See some company sponsored Gutter Bins below to see the personalized designs!

All in all, it was so nice to speak to Brian personally and hear more about his company, their products and mission. Frog Creek Partners are a mission driven company, saving the world one storm drain at a time! We want to thank them for all of their hard work reducing storm water pollution and helping restore water quality for the future!

To learn more about them and their projects- check out their website below!
Innovative Stormwater Products - Frog Creek Partners

References

• https://frogcreek.partners/specification-sheets/

• https://frogcreek.partners/company

• Journal Article: Toxicity of cigarette butts, and their chemical components, to marine and freshwater fish Elli Slaughter. Sept. 18 2010 https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/