Shrink wrap protects boats all winter, but where does it go after that?

One-time-use plastics — products which are useful for a short time but will stick around in landfills for centuries — are the bane of environmentalists. In some instances, it’s hard to find any alternative. Such is the case with shrinkable plastic ubiquitously used to protect boats in winter storage.

Tons of the plastic are used annually, both by marine professionals and by individual boaters, and this time of year is when that plastic is removed so boaters can enjoy the sunshine and fresh air. For the plastic, though, it’s most likely a one-way trip to a landfill.

“We’d all like to be able to do something with it other than putting it in the waste stream,” said Bruce Wright, chief executive officer and president of Irwin Marine in Laconia. “Right now, there’s no valid option that we can