Shops back line recycling bins
More than 100 tackle shops have signed up to a national initiative to help rid our inland fisheries and coastlines of discarded fishing line.
Each year an estimated 400 million metres of line are discarded or thrown away, but since 2016 The Anglers National Line Recycling Scheme has been campaigning to help dramatically reduce that number.
Over the last two years the organisation, which is a collaboration between the Local Independent Sea Anglers group and the Global Ghost Gear Initiative, has been working on a tough advertising strategy to get the word out to the angling community.
And in the light of the recent milestone being reached – including the support of big-name tackle retailers Angling Direct and Fishing Republic – it’s clear that the group’s hard work is paying off.
Angling Times spoke to ANLRS volunteer Viv Shears about the achievement in engaging with the tackle trade.
He said: “We’re absolutely are over the moon to have reached this number.
“As of last Friday (May 4) we have 103 tackle shops signed up in addition to the support from Sparsholt College, six different fisheries, and three corporate supporters in the form of Linear Fisheries, Gardner Tackle and Lee Valley Park Fisheries.
“We are now waiting on the arrival of 10,000 flyers, which are sponsored by Lee Valley Park Fisheries.
“These are being distributed to clubs and syndicates that have asked for information on the scheme for their members.
“We’ve also received a number of direct donations from anglers in support of what we are doing which is great, and the website has gone down well too.”
How to get involved
Do you want to start recycling your old fishing line but don’t know where your local line recycling points are? If so, please follow these four simple steps:
1 Head to the ANLRS website at www.anglers-nlrs.co.uk
2 Click on the Recycling Locations tab at the top of the page
3 Scroll through the interactive map to find a tackle shop, angling club or fishery near you with their own line recycling bins
4 Simply bring your line along to the recycling point and discard it in the appropriate bins
The ANLRS is run solely on a voluntary basis. If you would like to contribute to the cause please visit the website and click on the donate button.