Fishing For Energy

I found this trash to treasure story last week and I have to say that I am amazed by the creative endeavors of people around the world.

Marine debris is a huge problem. Animals get tangled up in debris and even eat it. It also gets into our drinking water, thus affecting all of us. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is growing every day and yet people continue to throw debris in the ocean. This issue is more serious than most people realize. But what can we do about? How can we get people to stop polluting our oceans?


Fishing for Energy launched in 2008 through a partnership of Covanta Energy Corporation, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Schnitzer Steel Industries. The goal of the project is to provide a cost-free solution to fishermen to dispose of old or unusable fishing gear. By providing an outlet for this gear, the gear can do some good instead of ending up in the ocean or in landfills. How cool is that?

The project works closely with state and local agencies, community and fisherman groups, and local ports by installing bins at convenient and strategic locations for fishermen to deposit their gear. By providing the bins, the project elinimates any incentive to dump the gear illegally. But what happens to the gear?

Once the gear has been collected, it is transported to a Schnitzer Steel facility where metals are removed from crab pots and lobster traps, and nets and ropes are sheared for easier disposal. The gear is then sent to a Covanta waste-to-energy facility where the waste is converted to electricity. Each ton of fishing gear is able to generate enough electricity to power one home for 25 days. That is so awesome!

To date, the ports participating in the program on the east and west coasts have collected over 188 tons of gear. That's 377,326 pounds of gear! The program is now available on the Oregon coast and let's keep our fingers and paws crossed that the response from the fishing community will be positive. This win-win for the fishing industry is also a win-win for the environment. Proper disposal of trash is the not only the right thing to do, it is a must do. We are all in this together.