The sun is shining, the birds are singing and the shrink wrap is coming off. The boat shrink wrap, that is low-density polyethylene plastic prized for its flexibility and ability to keep vessels safe from the sleet, snow and rain of Maine winters.
Maine has more than 100,000 registered boats. At an average of 15 pounds of shrink wrap per boat (a 30-foot boat requires about 30 pounds), that’s more than 1.5 million pounds of plastic coming off boats around the state each spring, the vast majority bound for landfills or incinerators.