Workers with Wrangell Cooperative Association's IGAP office prepare nets for transport in April 2015. The gillnets the program collects get sent down with those collected by Petersburg's IGAP for reprocessing, where the netting's nylon fibers find new industrial uses.
A big batch of old gillnets is being shipped south for reprocessing.
The Indian Environmental General Assistance Program (IGAP) offices in Wrangell and Petersburg planned to send several container loads this week to a Seattle-area processor for reuse.
In all, the work of preparing the nets for transport took about two weeks. Wrangell's IGAP hired on temporary laborers this spring to help move, clip and sort through the collected nets. Weed, cork and lead lines were removed from them, with some of the reusable materials held aside for interested fishermen.
"They're pretty cleaned up for us," Wrangell IGAP technician Kim Wickman explained.
The program gives fishermen a designated place to dispose of old nets, lessening instances of improper disposal or in municipal dumpsters. When mixed with other trash, the nets cause headaches for workers at the waste transfer facility by getting tangled up inside the trucks and bins.
A survey conducted in 2014 found that illegal dumping was a top environmental issue among residents, found along roadsides and on nearby beaches.
"I haven't seen a lot of nets on the side of the road" since, said Wickman.
Located at The Marine Service Center's eastern side, the Wrangell station has collected 32 big bags of netting since the last load was sent in 2015. The nets are collected in salt storage bags provided by Trident Seafoods, which make moving them around significantly easier.
"We don't really know how much are going in there, and the poundage," Wickman said.
Wrangell's load was expected to depart either yesterday or today via Samson Tug & Barge.
Petersburg has one container full since its last shipment. Local IGAP director Brandon Thynes and his assistant have worked on sorting their nets – about 20 totes' worth – over the winter. "When I started, there was a very large pile of gillnet," he said. This latest batch may weigh up to three tons in all.
The nets were removed from their containers, cleaned, and loaded together into one shipping container. They are expected to be sent southward by the end of this week. Along with Wrangell's shipment, the nets will be received by Skagit River Steel & Recycling in Burlington, Washington. From there they will be reprocessed to make use of their nylon.
Thynes estimated the program will receive $0.06 per pound for the netting, which will help defray some of the transport costs involved. The bulk of the program is supported by Environmental Protection Agency grants, being IGAP's parent agency. On the local level, IGAP is a partnership between the EPA and tribal governments, such as Wrangell Cooperative Association and Petersburg Indian Association.
Nets for a new load are likely to start accumulating quickly, with fishermen preparing for the gillnetting season at the middle of the month.
Wrangell's IGAP helps arrange for other recycling initiatives, including an electronic waste drive conducted earlier this spring. It's not the only entity that collects cans, batteries, papers, plastics and other items, with a number of businesses and organizations participating in various drives.
IGAP is currently updating its compiled list of locations around Wrangell categorized by collection type, to be distributed in town and through the local media.
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