Megan Hall: Welcome to Possibly, where we take on huge problems like the future of our planet and break them down into small questions with unexpected answers. I’m Megan Hall.
Every fall, as boating season ends, thousands of marinas in New England get busy wrapping up their boats for winter. Literally wrapping them. In shiny sheets of plastic. We wondered, what’s the most environmentally friendly way to protect a boat when the season’s over?
We had Tameem Zaidat and Nat Hardy from our Possibly Team look into this.
Nat: Hi, Megan!
Tameem: Hello!
Megan Hall: I often see boats covered in white plastic during the off season. What is it, actually?
Nat: It’s just shrink wrap. To find out how you cover a boat in plastic, we talked to John Myers. He races a 23-foot sailboat.
John Myers: “I used to shrink wrap my boat when I first got it. …They would put a… wooden frame on top of the boat made of wood and it would create kind of a tent, uh, over which they could put these sheets of plastic and then they would apply heat guns to, uh, shrink the plastic and it would hug the frame and the boat.”
Tameem Zaidat: Shrink wrap works well, but each cover can only be used once. When spring comes, the plastic gets peeled off and tossed out. Some yards, like John’s, require sailors to recycle it, but he says that it’s not always easy.
John Myers: “You’re responsible for removing it yourself unless you pay them more to remove the shrink wrap.”
Nat Hardy: Recycling this plastic is expensive and difficult, so many boatyards and sailors don’t bother with that process. That means a lot of that shrink wrap ends up in landfills.
Tameem Zaidat: And It’s hard to find data on what happens to used boat shrink wrap specifically, but it’s made of a type of plastic that’s hard to recycle. Even if it gets collected by a recycling program, it’s still likely to end up in a landfill.
Nat Hardy: That’s because there isn’t much of a market to buy the used plastic.
Megan: How much plastic do people use when they wrap a boat?
Nat Hardy: It varies, but it can take about 15 pounds of plastic to wrap an average-sized boat.
Tameem Zaidat: Just here in Rhode Island, there are around 32 thousand licensed boats. That adds up to nearly half a million pounds of plastic waste every year- more than the weight of the Statue of Liberty.
Megan Hall: And we’re the smallest state in the country!
Nat Hardy: To be fair, we have a lot of boats, but still– When that boat wrap ends up in landfills, it not only takes up a lot of space, it also breaks into microplastics and can release harmful chemicals into the environment.
Megan: This doesn’t sound good. Do boat owners have any other options?
Tameem Zaidat: Yes, for the past few years, John hasn’t been using shrink wrap. Instead, he has a custom polyester cover he can reuse year after year.
John Myers: “It’s a big investment upfront, but I think if you have the money to do it, it’s kind of a no brainer. It would pay for itself after a few seasons.”
Megan Hall: How much more expensive are these custom covers?
Nat Hardy: Well, John bought his cover from a Rhode Island company called Kinder Industries for about $1,800.
Tameem Zaidat: To put that price into perspective, he says he used to pay around $500 a year for shrink wrap. So it’s saved him money.
John Myers: “It fits my boat like a glove and so it’s worked very well and I’ve now … about to use it for I think the fifth season. It’s still going strong.”
Tameem Zaidat: Kinder Industries says that their covers can survive 10 years or more.
Nat Hardy: And a reusable cover only weighs a few pounds more than shrink wrap for the same boat. So after only a few years, you’re reducing your plastic usage as well.
Tameem Zaidat: But not everyone can make that switch. John says reusable covers are harder to fit to larger boats, so many people still need to rely on shrink wrap each winter.
Nat: Still, he thinks small boat owners should make the switch.
John Myers: “If somebody were to ask me whether to go with the shrink wrap or to invest in a cover, I’d say just start saving for the cover. As soon as you can do it, do it.
Megan Hall: So, what’s the takeaway here?
Nat Hardy: Reusable covers can really help boat owners, especially owners of small boats, cut down on seasonal plastic waste.
Tameem Zaidat: And it’s one more example of a bigger problem: we often rely on single-use plastics because they’re cheaper and more convenient.
Nat Hardy: But a little investment upfront can save money and reduce waste in the long run.
Megan Hall: Great! Thanks, Tameem and Nat!
That’s it for today. You can find more information, or ask a question about the ways your choices affect our planet, at ask possibly dot org. You can also subscribe to Possibly wherever you get your podcasts or follow us on social media at “ask possibly”
Possibly is a co-production of Brown University’s Institute for Environment and Society, Brown’s Climate Solutions Initiative, and Ocean State Media.
