ANGLING AND BEYOND
Line recycling hits significant landmarks.
THERE HAS been an amazingly positive reaction to the work of Anglers National Line Recycling Scheme (ANLRS), which has hit some significant landmarks after only its first two years in existence.
The first milestone happened in late January with the delivery of a 15kg box of line from Johnson Ross Tackle in Hertfordshire. That was around 130,000 metres of line, which brought the total collected by the scheme to over five-million metres. That’s an incredible amount of line saved from landfill or being discarded in the aquatic environment.
“Five-million metres of line prevented going to landfill is a major success by any standard, but remains a small percentage of the total line we anglers ‘consume’ every year in the UK, so we can do so much more as a sport,” said ANLRS co-founder Steve Tapp.
Since hitting the five-million mark, another 800,000 metres of unwanted line has been returned, and the ANLRS has also collected more than 200kg of plastic spools. That means a huge amount of line will be taken for recycling once the Covid-19 lockdown allows. All this has been achieved on a relative shoestring by volunteers.
All indications suggest the ANLRS will continue to grow because anglers, enlightened members of the trade, shops and fisheries have got behind the scheme.
Steve added: “We have proved in the last two years, beyond all reasonable doubt, that line recycling is necessary, viable and demonstrates anglers are taking responsibility for the environment we all love. Why wouldn’t you support it?”
MILESTONE
Another milestone was achieved when the scheme recruited its 300th UK mainland tackle shop. In addition, the scheme has more than 175 bins at various fisheries, on charter boats and at marinas and structures around the UK. Within the last six months, the ANLRS has reached far beyond angling by forming partnerships with a number of other organisations to assist in collecting discarded line. These include the RSPCA (which has placed bins at its main wildlife centres), along with a marine nature reserve, sea-life centres and a seal sanctuary. Several beach clean groups now collect line and take it to local participating tackle shops for recycling.
Viv Shears, ANLRS co-founder, added: “The reaction to the scheme for the tackle shops, fisheries and related businesses has been phenomenal. They are the people who interact with anglers on a day-to-day basis and are essential to the success the scheme has achieved.”
He added: “We are building the scheme into something that, with time, will make recycling your old fishing line and plastic spools the norm for anglers.”
The ANLRS is spreading its message too, having signed up more than 40 shops and fishing-related businesses in Ireland, while January saw the scheme officially launched in Belgium. ■