Trawl netting, beverage bottles, aluminum cans and other debris are now gone from the shores of Egg Island, thanks to the efforts of a few Cordovans.
Commercial harvesters Nelly and Michael Hand of Drifters Fish, along with their crew and support from Net Your Problem’s Nicole Baker, removed around 5,500 pounds of plastic debris from Egg Island last month.
“It was one of the most impressive beach cleanups I’ve ever participated in,” said Baker, whose work with Net Your Problem aims to create an economically viable pathway to recycle end-of-life fishing gear, improve waste management, and reduce energy and emissions related to plastic production. The organization turns waste into an array of useable items – from bicycle seats and knife handles to shopping bags and more.
During their mid-May trash cleanup on Egg Island, financed by a federal grant from NOAA’s marine debris program, Drifters Fish hired several fishers to help them gather more than two tons of debris in just two days off the beaches of Egg Island.
The crew first sorted and bagged the plastics, with guidance from Baker. Then, Nelly Hand transported the bagged plastics to her husband Michael Hand’s seiner, who delivered them to Cordova. From there, crews transferred the bags to an Alaska Marine Lines shipping container for transport south.
A total of 24 large bags of trash were collected, which filled the shipping container.
Baker credited the Hands with figuring out the details of getting the project done in two days – including related information about tides.
While in Cordova, Baker also walked around town, went down to the docks and spoke at a meeting of Cordova District Fishermen United, to remind people about fishing gear recycling drop-off dates.
She also spoke with people about Net Your Problem’s aluminum can recycling program, which helps fund the organization’s projects.
“Our goal is one bale of aluminum cans a month, 800 pounds of cans,” she said. “People can drop their cans in the dumpster in the long-term parking lot near Baha Taco.”
The two-year NOAA grant will allow Nelly and Michael Hand to do more beach cleanup in the Cordova area next year. Meanwhile, Baker has designated two more deadlines for this year’s plastics cleanup: Aug. 26-27 and Sept. 23-24.
The benefits of keeping this plastic debris out of the Cordova landfill are significant. Repurposing trash into useable products means more natural resources need not be extracted to make those products.
“It’s like electronics recycling,” said Baker. “If you don’t have to extract metals to make phones, there are a slew of environmental benefits for that. Similarly, if you recycle plastics, you don’t have to take petroleum out of the ground.”
The day after the cleanup was completed, Nelly Hand led local high school students on a field trip, during which they counted a total of about 900 beverage bottoms from the Egg Island beach in a bag. With a total of four bags, that comprised an estimated 3,600 bottles.
The trash also included three very big black buoys that Baker thinks were associated with the tsunami in Japan several years ago.
Thanks to the two-year grant, Drifters Fish will be able to compare the total trash cleanup of 2025 to the one next year, to determine if the amount of plastic swept up on the shores of Egg Island is steady or declining.
