Easy DIY Strip and Cut
Change your Mono Responsibly
As every angler out there does maintenance on their fishing equipment, line stripping and respooling needs to be done every season, or more often depending on preference and use. Monofilament is the most commonly spooled line on fishing reels today. However it is not something that you spool once and it lasts forever. It does deteriorate over time and under heavy use can develop nicks and burrs that can cause it to break and you to lose your fish. Many tournament anglers change their mono before every tournament just to ensure it is in prime shape. Spooling is covered here using mono and braid.
Stripping however is another area that if not done right, can lead to wildlife mortality both in the water and in the landfill. Mono should NEVER be thrown overboard or discarded in any fishing venue. It needs to be disposed of properly, every time. Used mono has become a huge problem both in the water and in landfills in recent years. In the water, marine wildlife can not only become entangled in it and drown, but also ingest it and die from hook impalement and intestinal tract blockages. In landfills, scavanging wildlife can become entangled as well.
Line Stripping and Proper Disposal
When stripping the line off a reel, anglers usually use a battery operated line stripper to save time. However this leaves the line in the trash in one long strand which causes the problems mentioned earlier. Here is an easy DIY (Do it yourself) device for quickly stripping line from any reel, but enables the angler to easily cut the line into short (less than one foot) lenths so entanglement is virtually impossible.
How to Build the Line Stripper
Find a used 1 - 2 lb plastic line spool (about 5 inches across) that you don't plan on storing line on anymore and clamp it in your bench vise with the circular end facing you.
Using a sawzall with a medium blade, make 2 pie shaped cuts into one side and down through the surface of the spool, but do not cut all the way through to the center.
Turn the spool around in the vise, reclamp, then make your pie shaped cuts again meeting in the center with the cuts you just made.
You will end up with a wedge shaped piece, but not cut all the way to the center.
Next thing is, to get a 5/16" X 6 carriage bolt, a 5/16 " nut and a couple of large washers.
Put a washer on the bolt, slide it through the center hub of the spool, add the other washer, then the nut then tighten 1/2 turn past finger tight (just snug).
This should leave about 3/4 inch of the bolt sticking out past the nut.
Take a cordless drill with a 1/2" chuck and put the threaded end of the bolt into the chuck and tighten it.
You will find that the spool is real wobbly when you start the drill.
Slowly rotate the spool and center the bolt on both ends.
It may take a few times to line the bolt up to center and balance the spool.
It doesn't have to be perfect, just enough so the drill doesn't wobble out of your hand when at full speed.
Stripping the reel
Secure the reel you are going to strip in the vise or like I did, in a Spooling Station.
Open the bail (spinning) or flip the lever (casting) to free spool.
Tie the line to the spool and turn a few times to get it started.
This spool had small holes in the side already.
Now with one finger on the reel spool (not on the line, as it can burn you) orient the spool (thats mounted on the drill) in front of the reel.
Start the drill up slowly, keeping a small amount of pressure on the reel spool, so it doesn't backlash.
Keep adding speed till the drill is at max rpm. This will strip the line off the reel quickly.
As you get to the bottom of the reel spool, slow down and eventually stop when the end of the line is reached.
Snip the line from the reel spool.
Cutting the line 
Hold the spool from underneath, now with line on it, in one hand and take a pair of kitchen shears, or what I use, a pair of craftsman cutters in the other hand.
Put the bottom of the shears or cutters into the slot created by the pie shaped cut-out on the spool.
Start cutting the line (a little bit at a time) until its all cut through.
Finally, after being all cut, the line can be peeled off and put in the trash.
The line is now short enough that entaglement is virtually impossible.
If you do this every time you strip a reel, then the mono is not a problem anymore. With your cooperation and diligence in eliminating this problem, we can all be more responsible anglers.
TIGHT lines and BIG fish!!!