Wrangell sees net improvement

There's finally a place to put discardable gill nets in Wrangell, perhaps at last solving a problem that has been hassling the island.

In a recent survey, Wrangell Cooperative Association's Indian General Assistance Program (WCA-IGAP) found that illegal dumping was residents' number-one environmental concern. Among the items being abandoned, old gill nets were a particularly troublesome issue.

"It has been a problem in the past," said Ruby McMurren, project supervisor at Wrangell Public Works. "Nets were being dumped everywhere," she added, getting tangled up with garbage in collection bins and dumpsters, or entangling wildlife in the island's forest.

"It created quite a mess," she said.

On Friday, WCA-IGAP coordinator Trevor Kellar put the finishing touches on an official collection point for the nets at the city landfill next to the weighbridge. Labelled "Net Recycling" in bright yellow stenciling, the bin is the end product of a month's worth of legwork, planning and coordination.

"Everyone with the city has been so supportive," Kellar said. Public Works supplied a container and collection point. Trident Seafoods has also chipped in by providing its old 2,500-pound salt bags to make collection and storage easier.

Support and ideas for the new program have also come from the Petersburg Indian Association's (PIA) Tribal Resource Director Jason Wilson. PIA is already collecting nets in Petersburg for recycling purposes, and Wilson said they were willing to store the nets that are collected in Wrangell.

Wilson was approached about a year ago by the international outfit, Aquafil, with a plan to take Petersburg's discarded nets free-of-charge. Domestically operating from Seattle, the German engineering company wanted the nets for their nylon 6 content, which they developed a process to recycle.

The company separates these nylon components from fishing nets, carpet fluff, rigid textiles and pre-consumer waste and reprocesses them back into workable material. The nets being collected in Wrangell will ultimately be a small part of an international network of collected material going to the Aquafil plant in Ljubljana, Slovenia for reprocessing.

"There's almost zero waste with nylon 6," Wilson explained. The plan would save Petersburg money by not having to pay for the nets' disposal, while also complimenting PIA's current e-waste program, which collects unwanted electronics for proper disposal.

The project in Wrangell would have similar benefits, and its organizers hope the program will give more incentive to fishermen to dispose of their old nets properly. Just remember to strip the lead and cork lines beforehand.

Once a large enough load has been collected, the nets will be sent off to PIA in Petersburg for consolidation and eventual processing.

"It's collected for free, it's sent away for free, it's recycled for free," Keller explained.

"It can't get any easier than that," said McMurren.

In addition, participants in the program can stop by the WCA office and pick up a raffle ticket for each net they dispose of. The prize: a survival flotation suit.

"I think that (the suit) would be a good incentive," McMurren said, being both a pricey but useful piece of equipment.

"It's being socially responsible," said Kellar, who is among those wanting to see Wrangell expand its own recycling capacity.

"We're headed in that direction," McMurren explained.

The Borough Assembly and Department of Public Works have taken interest in starting up a recycling program, agreeing at their last meeting to bring in a consultant next month to help draft a recycling plan that would work well for the island community.

There are currently some recycling options available in town. WCA put together a list of businesses and locations around Wrangell that will take a variety of items like aluminum, batteries, florescent bulbs, ink cartridges, electronic waste, oil and other materials.

The list is available at the WCA office, or a copy can be delivered by calling 874-4304.