We’d like to look at things with a really long lifespan. With this material, it can be put into things like composite decking.”

Eva Baker, Clean Ocean Access

Everyone living along the New England coastline is familiar with the sight of marinas in the winter. They transform into seas of plastic white, with thousands of boats shrink-wrapped for their winter’s nap.

Often, the plastic wraps are used for a single year, before getting torn apart and hauled to the landfill, where they will decompose for centuries. That’s where Clean Ocean Access (COA) comes in. 

Based in Middletown, COA is a nonprofit advocacy group that hopes to inspire and educate the community to adopt environmentally responsible behaviors. Four years ago, Clean Ocean Access began implementing a Shrink Wrap Recycling initiative across Rhode Island, and it has since expanded throughout Massachusetts, Maine and Connecticut.

Since joining the organization after earning her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Sciences from the University of Rhode Island, Eva Baker, a COA employee, has been focusing her time and energy on Shrink Wrap Recycling. Reflecting on the roots of this movement, Baker said: “It kind of started out with us looking around Rhode Island and seeing the sheer amount of white all winter long. That had a really big impact on my predecessors who started this project. Just thinking about where the material goes, what happens to it … It’s a lot of plastic that ends up in the landfill. In its actual form, just being sheets of plastic thrown around, it prevents things from being able to degrade, and it’s not going anywhere.”

Though the plastic itself is lightweight, the cumulative volume throughout the region is massive. COA estimates that millions of pounds of plastic are shrink-wrapped around boats every winter in New England.

Through a pay-as-you-throw style initiative, COA sells collection bags, mainly to marinas and shipyards. Prices range from $12 to $35 per bag, and most marinas in this region participate in the program.

“They pay per-bag to have the material wrapped up, and we coordinate the hauling and bailing, which is actually a really crucial part of the process because of how the plastic is processed,” Baker said.

The bags are sourced from a shrinkwrap production company by the name of Dr. Shrink, which is based in Michigan, who, Baker explained, “have been running this type of program for a really long time because, as a producer, they wanted to hold themselves accountable for what happens when the plastic reaches its end of life.”

While the bags are currently marketed mainly to shipyards and marinas, one of COA’s next steps is to target individual boat owners. Whether they use the bags themselves or advocate that their yard engage in the initiative, the hope is that more and more plastic will be collected, reprocessed, and recycled.

From boats to decks?

When it comes to actually repurposing the plastic once it’s processed and converted to pellets, there are a few paths COA has been considering for the future. It is possible to turn it back into shrinkwrap, but the new product would be made out of only 5-10% recycled plastic. Of course, that’s an improvement, but Clean Ocean Access and Baker have bigger dreams.

“We’d like to look at things with a really long lifespan. With this material, it can be put into things like composite decking. That would be great because we really are trying to go full circle, and if something can last way longer than the original material, we would consider that a success,” Baker said.

Reusable boat wraps are also available on the market, but Baker understands that it’s unrealistic and unreasonable to expect everyone to make that switch. She said, “Canvas is a really great option if you’re planning on having that boat for a really long time as well as the money and resources. But you also can look at it through the lens of carbon footprint, where it’s much more substantial than the plastic carbon footprint.”

Reuse the wraps?

Baker also suggests another alternative to disposing of the plastic sheets. “Plastic is always seen as an enemy, but in this case it’s a lot cheaper, and in my ideal world, for the next boating season, I would like to put a big focus on reusing the material,” she said. “A lot of people do that, and that starts with the application and the intention of using it for multiple years and then recycling it. We know the material is going to be used, so for us it’s about people being conscious and knowing how to make the best decisions with it when it comes to reusing and recycling.”

Clean Ocean Access’ initiative has expanded across coastal New England, with shrinkwrap collection service sites across marinas in Rhode Island, Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, Boston, and scattered throughout Maine. Though permanent connections have yet to be made in Connecticut, COA continues to host events in the state, with one coming up at Mystic Aquarium on April 29. Baker explained that “It’s a free event, and we’ll bring a UHaul and bring all of the shrinkwrap to a processor in Westerly. They’re really looking forward to it, which is great since we’re trying to gain traction there and get people excited about the program.”

On COA’s website, cleanoceanaccess.org, boaters can learn more about the movement and explore an interactive map to find collection service sites near them.