Disposal Options for BoatCoverings Just ShrankStory by MICHAEL DAIGLEPhoto by KAREN FUCITOLake Hopatcong boat owners and marinaoperators will be seeking new ways todispose of the popular plastic boat shrinkwrapsnow that Morris County will no longerprovide a free disposal service at Lee’s CountyPark Marina in Mount Arlington.The change was announced in Februaryby Liz Sweedy, district recycling coordinatorfor the Morris County Municipal UtilitiesAuthority.The Morris MUA had placed a trashreceptacle at Lee’s Marina with the cooperationof the Morris County Park Commission, whichoperates the marina.In her announcement, Sweedy said thecollection was ending for two reasons: MorrisCounty had been funding the collection forthe past decade alone, after a grant programthat began in 2008 ended in 2010. She saidMorris County chose to end its own fundingof the collection.Behind that decision were the overall changesin the recycling market that took hold in 2018when China announced it would no longertake recycled plastic from the rest of the world.Prior to the ban, the Yale School of Forestryand Environmental Studies reported thatChinese processors bought 90 percent of theplastics from the European Union and 70percent of U.S. plastics.Compounding Morris County’s decision,Sweedy said, is that boat shrink wrap is not amandated recyclable.“Unfortunately, there are no local marketsfor this product,” Sweedy said.For Joe Leifken, owner of the Prospect PointBoat Yards in Jefferson, it will possibly meana change in contract terms for about 50 boatowners who pay for outdoor storage at hisyard. Wrapping those boats in shrink-wrap is aservice he provides to them, he said.His facility also has indoor storage for about500 boats, which are covered, but not encasedin shrink-wrap, he said.Shrink-wrap cannot be reused on a boat,he said, because it tears when removed. It isan item destined for the landfill, which couldimpact his trash disposal costs.Leifken said he imagines that a fee couldbe added for the disposal of the shrink-wrap.He owns and operates the Denville Bear andBrake Shop, and that business collects a statemandated tire disposal fee, he said.Ray Fernandez, owner of Bridge Marina inJefferson, said he offers a boat wrapping servicefor the 300 owners who store boats at his yard.He said he charges a $10 to $15 fee to shrinkwrap the boat and a $25 removal fee.Part of that fee covered the cost oftransporting the material to Lee’s Marinato take advantage of the county offer of freedisposal, Fernandez said.The boat wraps weigh about 15 pounds each,and he said his team had developed a foldingtechnique that reduced the size of the foldedwrap.“It folds like a tent,” he said.The advantage of the plastic shrink-wrap isit’s lightweight and costs less, he said.Non-plastic wraps are generally made ofcloth, like canvas, are much heavier, have to bemaintained and stored, and can be costlier.A quick online search found a varietyof durable, waterproof fabric/polyesteralternatives, ranging in price from about $200to $800, depending on the size of the cover.In 2008, the state Department ofTransportation, the Department ofEnvironmental Protection’s CoastalManagement Office and the New JerseySea Grant Consortium, offered an annual$100,000 grant to nine counties that had ahigh number of boats: Atlantic, Burlington,Cape May, Cumberland, Middlesex, Morris,Ocean, Sussex and Union. The grant wasdrawn from the collection of boat registrationfees.The grant program ended in 2010.Most of the counties involved arranged toaccept the boat shrink-wrap at their respectivecounty recycling centers. Of those counties,Sussex County, based on information on itswebsite, still follows that practice. AtlanticCounty has a notice on its website stating thatboat shrink-wrap will not be accepted at therecycling center, while for the other countiesthere was no clear notice either way. Morris wasthe only county to offer a free disposal service.The grants program did show positive resultsbetween 2008 and 2009, the only years thedata is available.In 2008, the nine counties recycled 128.7tons of boat shrink wrap. In 2009, the totalwas 195 tons.In Morris County, the totals dropped fromyear to year: 2008, 23 tons; 2009, 7.8 tons.By 2020, the New Jersey Sea GrantConsortium, one of the original sponsors ofthe grant program, had apparently soured onthe use of plastic boat shrink-wrap.Its website contains this notice: “Protectyour boat and the environment by consideringreusable canvas or multi-use plastic coversinstead of shrink-wrap.”6LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS Spring 2020Boats covered with shrink-wrap crowd the shoreline at MarineMax in Jefferson.
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