A pilot program called ‘Alberta Ag Plastic. Recycle It!’ is picking up steam with more Alberta farmers recycling agricultural plastics, a March 28 news release said.
The ‘Recycle It!’ pilot launched in October 2019 and continuing through December 2022, with farmers having brought close to 2,270 tonnes of grain bag plastic and over 336 tonnes of used plastic baler twine to designated collection locations for recycling. It’s being led by the multi-stakeholder Agricultural Plastics Recycling Group (APRG), the release said. Funds were granted for the pilot by the provincial government and are administered by Alberta Beef Producers, with the long-term goal is to expand the pilot into a permanent program.
“This time of year, I have my cows on bale grazing and most of the twine I take off my bales is clean and easy to recycle. Putting it in a recycling bag rather than a garbage bag was an easy habit to form and I am glad there is a better place for it to go, rather than into a landfill,” Assar Grinde, beef producer and chair of APRG, said in the release.
The pilot program is being operated by Cleanfarms on behalf of APRG. The release noted Cleanfarms has contracted with 47 collection partners to establish a network of 147 individual collection locations – 45 that collect both grain bags and twine, one that collects grain bags only and 101 that collect twine only. They’re also opening new collection locations regularly to provide additional access for farmers.
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