Tag: recycling

What’s Your Plan for Used Boat Wrap? Recycle it!

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Three images - top wrapped boats on the left and right, and the WRR logo and tag line "Give your Boat Wrap a Second Life" in the center

Wrap Recycle Right is the branded program of a nonprofit stewardship organization that represents boat wrap producers and develops and operates a recycling program under Minnesota’s Boat Wrap Stewardship Law (Minn. Stat. § 115A.1416)—the first such law in the United States. The Wrap Recycle Right program details are laid out at their website https://www.wraprecycleright.org/.

Across Minnesota, boats are starting to come out of storage. Wrap Recycle Right is continuing to expand collection options to make recycling more accessible for boat owners, businesses, and partners across the boating community.

Program Map

The interactive program map shows the confirmed drop-off locations for used boat wrap. The map will be updated as new drop-off sites come online. Click on the image below to open the interactive map.

static image of active Wrap Recycle Right rollout map as of 4/16/2026

Clicking on a specific site will slide in information on that drop-off location and its open times.

closeup static image of active Wrap Recycle Right rollout map with a collection site selected as of 4/16/2026

Program Schedule

WRR program managers realize this rollout will take time for adoption across the state and they share their schedule here. Their program rollout is laid out in four stages over the next five years. Specific counties are on the schedule in the first few years. The schedule remains flexible in the later years as the program rolls out.

WRR Program Schedule as of 260416

For more information contact the program manager at info@wraprecycleright.org.

Wrap Recycle Right program logo

Bill introduced to recycle boat shrink wrap in Minnesota

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Shrink-wrapped boats
Photo: Michigan Recycling Coalition

Shrink wrap is used across the country to protect boats from the elements. Unfortunately, the opportunities to recycle that plastic are currently very limited. And we are talking about a lot of plastic. A 25-foot boat uses approximately 25 pounds of plastic and that’s roughly equivalent to over 2,000 plastic shopping bags. Think about the 800,000 registered watercraft in Minnesota and how many of them are shrink wrapped every year. The amount of boat shrink wrap Minnesota uses just one time is staggering.

Legislation has been introduced in the Minnesota House (HF 3320) and in the Senate (SF 3427) to begin to address the problem. The proposed legislation will:

  • Creates a product stewardship program to responsibly recycle and reuse boat shrink-wrap.
  • Requires producers, through membership in a stewardship organization, to implement and finance a statewide product stewardship program to reduce the volume
    of boat wrap disposed of in landfills by promoting and providing for the collection and recycling of boat wrap.
  • Sets goals and a mechanism for tracking progress towards recycling the majority of boat shrink-wrap plastic used in Minnesota.

Here is a great overview of the issue from the Chesapeake Quarterly. It’s focused on Maryland, but it is the same issue in Minnesota.

Here is a 1-page flyer on the proposed bill that includes some rough estimates on the amount of plastic that goes into our landfills or is incinerated.

Note: This initiative is not identified in our 2024 MN COLA Legislative Agenda, but it’s one that is worth supporting!