Bioaqualife
Shrinkwrap generates an enormous amount of non-recycled plastic waste each year. The Rhode Island-based company Bioaqualife aims to mitigate this problem with a high-performing product that breaks down in landfills.
Every autumn, boats in cold climates are covered in white plastic long before the first snowfall. Shrinkwrap season creates an ominous landscape of plastic waste—posing a threat to the very oceans upon which these boats travel. It’s a bad look for boatyards. Still, customers request shrinkwrap every year, and we’re in the business of providing customer service.
Most of us would welcome an alternative that works for both the customer and the yard. But shrinkwrap waste seems like a necessary evil, which may be why our industry’s first efforts to go greener have been through recycling this material instead of eliminating it. A handful of grassroots resource-recovery efforts around the country have grown into major operations that are responsibly removing hundreds of thousands of pounds of shrinkwrap from landfills annually. If your boatyard hasn’t had the opportunity to become part of one of these programs, you’re missing out. These processes have become so streamlined that it’s often easier to pay for recycling services than to pay for an extra dumpster every spring.
In fact, cost doesn’t have to be a barrier at all to going greener with shrinkwrap recycling. Admittedly, extra labor is unavoidable because all doors, zippers, and ties must be separated from the plastic. However, participation in a state- or organization-sponsored recycling program tends to be inexpensive at roughly $12 to $14 per boat.