up·cy·cle (əpˌsīkəl), verb
1. reuse discarded objects or material in such a way as to create a product of a higher quality or value than the original.
By Walt Gasson
Let’s assume for a moment that you fish. Pretty safe assumption, if
you’re reading this. Then let’s assume that you fish from a drift boat. Lots of us do. And finally, let’s assume that your drift boat has an anchor. Again, a pretty safe assumption – anchors are a pretty handy thing to have in a boat. Now for the question: What’s that anchor made from? Chances are, it’s lead.
Lead. It’s bad stuff. We all know that. It’s long gone from paint. We’ve gotten it out of shotgun shells. We’re getting it out of bullets, too. Most of us have abandoned lead as any part of the terminal tackle when we rig up to fish. The idea here is to get it out of places where it can harm living creatures – like fish, or for that matter, like us.
For those of us who fish, particularly those of us who fish from a boat on the rivers and streams of this great land, this is a problem. That lead anchor that we use to hold the boat in place is just inconsistent with who we are as conservationists. At best, it’s scraping rocks on the bottom, leaving lead fragments in its wake. At worst, we break a cheap aluminum carabiner or an eye bolt and it ends up on the bottom, slowly leaching poison into the water we care so much about.
But TU Business member Mike Storms has a solution. Mike is a welder, and a dedicated recycler and upcycler for decades. And he’s the owner of Green Anchors in Hamilton, Mont. Mike fabricates a line of anchors made from 100-percent recycled lead encased in 3/16-inch steel. These anchors come with 3/8-inch eyes, or one-half-inch on anchors 30 pounds and larger. The eye is welded closed and welded securely to the top plate to eliminate the problem of eyes that open or break under pressure. The anchors come in weights from 10 to 40 pounds. and in five styles. Green Anchors will build custom anchors, if you like. And they strive to do all this with materials produced in the USA.
As Mike says, “This isn’t just about protecting streams and rivers. This is about making great anchors for people who fish. I fish, and the people I care about fish too. We started Green Anchors because we wanted to do something for everyone who cares about streams and rivers.” And true to that commitment, he’s offering a 15-percent discount to TU members who purchase an anchor in 2017. Check out this great deal at www.green-anchors.com.
Green Anchors
Mike Storms
Hamilton, MT 59840
(406) 821-4758
Walt Gasson is the director of TU’s Business Program. He lives and works in southeast Wyoming.