IMAGE COURTESY BOATUS

Fishing tackle company Berkley and Boat Owners Association of the United States are partnering on a sustainability program that they hope will get the fishing and boating public thinking about what happens to their baits and line when ready for the trash — or worse, when it’s lost at sea.

Turning fishing line into new products is labor intensive, and requires workers that have to come through, sort, clean, strip hooks and weights, and separate miles of encrusted debris in entangled fishing line.

There aren’t any recycling programs for fishing related materials like soft baits.

So Berkley and the BoatUS Foundation for Boating and Safety and Clean Water are partnering to tap the public’s creativity in the Recast and Recycle Contest.

The company and foundation are looking for new ideas on how to improve the process for line and plastic recycling, or ideas on new recycled products.

They’re also hoping someone can offer a technological breakthrough that can increase the amount of line that gets recycled, as well as soft baits.

The contest runs through May 14, 2021.

“Whether it’s monofilament line, braided line or soft baits, we want there to be a sustainable, large-scale solution to keeping line out of our waters and landfills where it can remain a problem for birds and wildlife,” said BoatUS Foundation outreach director Alanna Keating in a statement. “We want to know how to make the process better. There’s no limit on the possibilities, but keep in mind that judges will add weight to contest submissions that actually work, are practical, innovative, and have the potential to have a significant impact. We really don’t know where a breakthrough could materialize.”

The first-place prize is $15,000, second place is $10,000, and $5,000 will be awarded for third place.

Berkley and BoatUS are seeking entries from any boater, angler, “armchair technologist,” and say they welcome pros, amateurs, students, school teams and groups.

Submissions can address a specific part of the process — or take on several parts, even taking fishing gear from its end of its gear days and into its new life

Contest submissions can address any part of the process (or multiple parts) of taking fishing gear from end of life to a new life.

Entries can be as little as video link to a demonstration — those are limited to four minutes — to a one-page graphic summary.

Find more information including rules and information on the current recycling process for plastics and soft baits at the Recast and Recycle website.