COVENTRY TWP.: Hey, anglers, some Coventry students want your help.A fifth-grade class at Erwine Intermediate School is collecting old fishing line in a recycling program believed to be the first in Ohio. For the past few weeks, anglers have been able to drop off old line at six locations in Summit and Stark counties.After fishing season ends, most anglers throw their fishing lines into the trash. Some discard the reels with 100 yards of line where they fish.That can cause environmental problems.“Discarded fishing line at some of our access areas creates a real problem for wildlife and our users,” said Matt Wolfe, a fisheries biologist with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Wildlife.Discarded line can cause problems with boat motors and other equipment. It can create major problems for wildlife that get entangled. Such line does not break down and can create problems for years.Enter the 26 students of teachers Mike Staiger and Kim Delmedico at Erwine school in the Coventry district.The students researched the problem and came up with their plan to recycle the fishing line, Staiger said.They also constructed the boxes being used for collection.Such recycling programs are common in other areas, especially along the coasts in the United States, but they are rare in the Midwest, Staiger said.The recycling project is designed to enhance the students’ studies in mathematics, science, conservation and language arts, while encouraging them to tackle projects that affect their community, he said.“A project like this helps clean up the Portage Lakes, and that’s important,” he said.The Coventry students are hoping to recycle at least a mile of old fishing line, a goal that seems reachable, Staiger said.The students have passed out brochures at Coventry High School sporting events to inform the public about their project, which also will fulfill requirements of their Disney Planet Challenge.Staiger said the Coventry students will write up their project and submit the paperwork by Feb. 15 for the national competition.Two teams — one in grades 3-5, the other in grades 6-8 — will win class trips to Disney World. The winning teams will be announced in April.Last year, a Coventry class Staiger taught was a state finalist but did not win the Florida trip. The project involved fighting invasive Japanese knotweed in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.Old fishing line can be dropped off at the following locations:• Erwine Intermediate School, 1135 Portage Lakes Drive, Coventry Township.• Division of Wildlife District 3 Office, 912 Portage Lakes Drive, Coventry Township.• Long Lake Bait and Tackle, 855 Portage Lakes Drive, Coventry Township.• Portage Lakes Bait and Tackle, 354 Portage Lakes Drive, Coventry Township.• Walmart, 2887 S. Arlington Road, Springfield Township.• Gander Mountain, 4938 Portage St. NW, Jackson Township.Next spring, the Coventry students will ship the collected fishing line to the Iowa-based Berkley Conservation Institute, part of Berkley fishing, for recycling.Since 1990, that program has recycled 9 million miles of fishing line. That’s enough to fill two reels for every angler in the United States.Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.