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.
“It is a pleasure to work with APRG and Alberta farmers to help make recycling ag plastics a viable option for managing these materials,” Barry Friesen, Cleanfarms executive director, said in the release. “Farmers in this province have already shown that they are willing to recycle these used ag tools as soon as opportunities are available to them. We credit them for what they have accomplished so far and look forward to further successes in this program.”
The release noted Cleanfarms arranges for the collection and transportation of the ag plastics. Used grain bags go to one of two facilities in Alberta, one in Bashaw and the other near Bassano, and baler twine goes to recycling facilities in the United States.
Grain bag plastic is converted into plastic pellets which are shipped to manufacturers across Canada and the U.S. to be used to make new plastic items such as agricultural film plastics, plastic bags, composite dimensional lumber, and agricultural fence posts. Research and development is underway to use these pellets in the manufacturing of new grain bags, the release said. Twine is recycled into plastic pellets which are blended with other plastic resins to manufacture products such as car parts, flowerpots, composite decking, and dimensional lumber.
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