Desi Bond, the Curyung Tribe’s environmental coordinator, stands in front of a 10 foot tall, bright yellow baler, full to the brim with old Bristol Bay fishing nets. She closes the door, latches it, and pushes a green start button.
The machine compresses the nets into 350 pound bales, before they get packed into a shipping container and sent to one of three recycling facilities in Vancouver, Southern California, and Tennessee.
Bond and the Curyung Tribe are working with fishing gear recycling company Net Your Problem, to bring new life to old nets in Bristol Bay.
“We do this for our future generations to come,” said Bond. “I do this for my great grandchildren someday. I just don't want that petroleum in our soil to get back into our groundwater and get back into us or any of the subsistence foods that we consume.”
Plastic lasts a long time before it breaks down, but when it does, it degrades into tiny, toxic particles. Bond says her goal is to keep as many nets out of landfills as possible.
“It's one of our biggest recycling projects for the tribe. It becomes tedious at times but we just try to remember the bigger picture and why we do this. And we just keep busy enjoying the sun and the bugs,” said Bond, laughing.
Once shipped off, the bales of nets are shredded and melted down into small plastic pellets that then become raw materials for new items.
Nicole Baker is the founder of Net Your Problem, the company behind Bristol Bay’s net recycling programs.
“I think a lot of people are disenchanted, maybe, with the whole recycling system,” said Baker. “They put it in a blue bin on the end of their driveway and then have no idea what actually happens to it.”
But Baker says the company engages with fishermen throughout the recycling and manufacturing process to ensure a meaningful outcome.
This year in Bristol Bay, Net Your Problem has added a new net drop off site in Egegik, by Coffee Point.
“Our friend Judy Phillips has a set net site on the beach by Coffee Point and she has been fishing there for a very long time. The garbage on that beach gets all burned,” Baker said, “So that was a big motivation for her to reach out to me and try to divert that material from the burn barrel that they have there.”
Baker says last year in Bristol Bay alone they diverted about 30,000 pounds of net waste from landfills. In addition to the new drop site in Egegik, Baker says they are continuing their recycling operations in Dillingham and Naknek this season.
“Already in Naknek, we have 3,500 pounds, which is 10 bales that we made from web that LFS saved for us over the winter. So when all the fishermen leave, that's when they start stripping a lot of the nets and rehanging them over the winter. So they saved that web for us and we bailed that when we were over there in the beginning of June,” said Baker. “So we're already on a head start and now we have this new site in Egegik and these guys are dialed in here so I'm hoping for 40,000. We'll see how we do.”
Bond countered, “I’m hoping for 50!”
Net your problem also recycles heavy-duty, PVC raingear. She says fishermen just need to check their tags to see if they’re made with the right materials for recycling.
“PVC is the outside and the cotton is that liner on the inside. So that's sort of like Grundens, Hercules, kind of heavy duty stuff,” Baker said. “That material gets sent to a company in Maine called Rugged Seas and they repurpose it into tote bags and dry bags and keep chains and little pouches and all these different items.”
Old nets and PVC rain gear can be brought to any of Net Your Problem’s three drop sites.
Baker also says nets need to be clean and clear of moss and other debris before they get recycled.
“We're asking people in all the drop off sites and Naknek, Dillingham and Egegik to make sure that what you're dropping off really is clean because that is the only stuff that is suitable for recycling,” said Baker.
For further questions about the Dillingham drop site, contact Desi Bond at (907) 842-2384. For questions about Naknek and Egegik locations, or if you’d like to start a recycling program in your area, contact Nicole Baker at (907) 359-3450.
In Dillingham, nets can be brought to the Curyung Tribal Council Building or to a collection site to the right of the harbormaster’s office. Folks in Nankek can bring nets to the drop boxes across from the city dock marked by Web Recycling signs. And Egegik’s net drop sites are by Coffee Point Seafood’s burn barrel, and by Andy’s Buying Station.
Get in touch with the author at jessie@kdlg.org.
