Managing Ag Plastics Long-Term
Discover how ag plastics, once used, can be recycled to reclaim the natural resources and where they can be remanufactured into new products.
Cleanfarms and the Alberta Agricultural Plastics Recycling Group (APGR) are publishing information articles for Alberta farmers to understand the importance of used agricultural plastics resource management.
Cleanfarms is operating a three-year pilot project for grain bag and baler twine recycling in Alberta. The project is led by APRG.
Currently municipalities act as collection sites for these stewardship programs. Farmers are asked to prepare ag plastics and transport them to designated collection sites.
The municipality then arranges transportation from collection sites to specific recycling facilities. In the case of grain bags, two recycling facilities are in Alberta and one is in the USA.
Many waste management programs are financed through municipal taxes, so property taxpayers pay the cost of waste collection and disposal.
Alberta is currently developing policy changes to enable Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) where legal obligations will be placed on producers to take responsibility for the end-of-life management for their products and packaging and encourages them to design products that are more durable and recyclable.
More information on recycling solutions found here.