Posted on September 18, 2024 by Vicki Schwartz
Fishing is a popular outdoors activity that enables people of all ages to appreciate the peace and beauty of the natural environment. However, when fishing line is left behind, the discarded fishing line is not only unsightly, but it can cause real damage, by entangling birds, fish, turtles, and other animals. This can be lethal, as the fishing line can cause infections that can kill the animals or trap them in a web of fishing line.
There are very simple ways to prevent this from happening. It is easy to collect the fishing line and throw it away in the trash. However, a better approach is to recycle the fishing line, which removes the fishing line from the waste stream.
How do we recycle fishing line? Many fishing areas (see below) have n fishing line collection tubes. These tubes are typically white PVC pipe shaped like an upside-down “J”. Fishing line can be placed into the tubes and then park management will periodically empty the tubes and send the fishing line to a company that recycles the plastic monofilament line (see below). If there are no collection tubes nearby, you can recycle the fishing line by putting it into a box and sending it to the address below.
In addition, it is very simple to build fishing line collection tubes, which can be installed at local parks – it is important to work with park management so that they can set up the system to collect the fishing line from the tubes, and to identify the best locations to install the tubes.
Several parks in our area have fishing line collection tubes, including many Somerset County parks (Colonial Park, Duke Island Park, Lord Stirling Environmental Education Center [Fisherman’s parking lot], North Branch Park, Sourland Mountain Preserve, Washington Valley Park]; as well as Ann Van Middlesworth Park in Hillsborough; and several state parks.
Please note: We will be doing Reverse Tashlich at Colonial Park on September 29 – please keep your eyes open for any discarded fishing line (and be careful about hooks and lures!), so that you can place it into the recycling tubes at the park.
Discarded fishing line can be sent here for recycling:
Berkley Recycling
1900 18th
Street Spirit Lake, Iowa 51360
Here is a link for further information. If you have any questions or would like information about how to build the tubes, please reach out to the Green Team.
