How this group is turning its 'rope mountain' into your next garden tool

Slowly but surely, Nicole Waaler has been building what she calls her "rope mountain" of discarded old rope. It's been sitting in a large pile for years. Now she has a way to recycle it.

"We were prepared to store it for as long as possible. But I'm glad that we got this partnership sorted out this year," said Waaler, an outreach co-ordinator with the Huntsman Marine Science Centre in Saint Andrews and head of Debris Free Fundy.

The Huntsman has partnered with the Ocean Legacy Foundation in Vancouver, an organization dedicated to clearing plastics from the ocean and shores.

The foundation set up a rope-shredding facility in Truro, N.S., and was able to pick up the mountain of rope in March that had accumulated over the last two years.

"This project really has helped us clean up southwest New Brunswick and get some of the rope repurposed, and now recycled, with our new partnership."

Nicole Waaler says her “rope mountain” has been building for the last two years. (Submitted by Huntsman Marine Science Centre)

Rope pile-up

The Huntsman initiative to clean up waste from the Bay of Fundy started in 2016, and it started collecting rope in 2018. She says before that, there wasn't a good option for fishermen who had old rope they needed to dispose of.

Waaler says that six years into the project, the Huntsman has collected around 30,000 kilograms of rope.

LISTEN | The Huntsman Science Centre has been collecting old rope. Here's where it's going: 

Collection bins are placed at wharves around the Bay of Fundy. Anyone with old rope they don't plan on using anymore can put it in the bin, instead of sending it to the landfill. The centre has 28 rope collection bins at 25 different locations across the province.

"Myself and other Huntsman staff go to most of the bins and empty the rope and bring it back to the Huntsman," said Waaler.

"It's all loaded into our work truck by hand."

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Environmental impact

Waaler says keeping old fishing rope out of the landfill and ocean is important because the rope sheds microplastics, which are then ingested by sea creatures.

Loose rope can also entangle marine animals, such as the right whale. Much time and funding has been put into developing safer fishing gear for the endangered species.

And what happens to all the old fishing rope?

It will be shredded and processed at the facility in Truro. There are many different types of plastics in the rope, so that takes time.

The old rope was sent to a facility run by the Ocean Legacy Foundation for recycling. (Submitted by the Huntsman Marine Science Centre)

Then it's sold to companies vetted by the Ocean Legacy Foundation. Waaler says they specifically make sure the items go to products that won't just get thrown away.

"They want to make sure that they're selling it to sustainable, like-minded companies. So they might make wooden boards for decking, for park benches or picnic tables, plastic for garden tools, things like that," said Waaler.

"Not things that are going to be made into single-use items, like water bottles and straws."

And Waaler isn't done. She wants to start offering the used rope to people in the community.

"I would love to be able to give community members access to rope that fishermen are not using anymore," said Waaler.

"I know there's a lot of community members, especially in Saint Andrews, that are willing and wanting rope they don't have to pay for to do little projects with, whether it's rope repurposing like mats and baskets, or maybe things for their garden or for their yard."