I admit it. Last spring I took off my boat's shrink-wrap, wrestled it into a couple plastic bags, crammed it into my curbside recycling bin, and hoped for the best.
But this year, I decided to be a little more responsible and find out was I'm really suppose to do with it. Turns out that it was not an acceptable item for curbside recycling. However, I can take it to the Anne Arundel County Department of Public Works Millersville Landfill and Recovery Center, and there it will be recycled. I just need to remove any doors, zippers, straps, etc.
Recycling marine shrink-wrap breaks down into two branches. Individuals like me, with the boat at a private pier, and marinas. In Maryland, the Department of Natural Resources produced a helpful document in 21012, appropriate for individuals and marinas, outlining shrink-wrap recycling procedures in each county, including phone numbers. Before you go, call for this year's policies.
In the past, the Marine Trades Association of Maryland (MTAM) had a program where individuals could bring shrink-wrap to designated locations, put it in dumpsters, and the organization had it hauled away for recycling. Unfortunately, the program is no longer in place, in part because folks dumped all kinds of stuff in the dumpsters.
In addition to checking with the MTAM, I called three marinas to find out how they handle shrink-wrap and to get a little history. At Port Annapolis on Back Creek, they contract with a private business to haul away the stuff. At Smith's Marina on the Severn River, (where my sailboat is on the hard) owner Rick Smith asks slip-holders, contractors, and DIYers to place the wrap under the boats, and at the end of the week he collects it and drives it to the landfill (for recycling) himself. At Sunset Marina in Baltimore, they also hire a business to remove it. Thanks to owner John Polek, for being out-front on this issue back in the late 1990's and explaining to me his efforts to get recycling going back then. Polek got a private-public partnership working where marina shrink-wrap got combined with Giant grocery's shrink-wrap for recycling.
Please, don't be like me last year. Dispose of shrink-wrap responsibly - recycle if you possibly can.
