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Agrecovery launches silage wrap recycling programme in New Zealand
Media Release 6th May 2009
Agrecovery has recently launched a Silage Wrap Recycling programme in New Zealand in an effort to recover the estimated 4,000 tonnes of baled silage wrap used nationwide every year.
Agrecovery Foundation, a not-for-profit charitable trust which governs the Agrecovery rural recycling programme, has successfully operated a recycling programme for agrichemical and animal health plastic containers since April 2007.
“Adding silage wrap recovery is a natural progression for Agrecovery,” said Bruce Emerson, Director of 3R Group, Programme Managers for Agrecovery. “Farmers have been actively encouraging us to provide a solution that was user friendly, cost efficient and accessible nationwide.”
Recent research has shown that an estimated 320,000 kilometres of wrap is used each year in New Zealand – enough to circle the world 8 times. Recent advances in processing heavily contaminated plastics means that the recycling industry now sees agricultural films as a useful and viable raw material and as such, it should no longer be viewed simply as farm waste to be burned and buried.
“It is widely acknowledged that wrap left lying around on-farm is a potential hazard and it contaminates water ways, stock and the general farm environment,” Mr Emerson said.
“For New Zealand to maintain its “clean-green” image, vital to our primary export sectors, we need to do more than we currently are to address the appropriate handling and disposal options of on-farm plastics.
The programme is a simple one, allowing farmers to purchase a packet of wrap recycling bags from most rural retailers or direct from Agrecovery (by phone or online). Each packet of wrap bags contains 5 bags, enough to recycle approximately 60 wraps.
“There are no hidden costs. All costs, including collection, are contained within the bag price,” said Mr Emerson. “The bags are about the size of a household wheelie bin making it easy for individuals to handle without the need for machinery.”
“For about $1 per bale wrap farmers can protect their land and the environment.”
Hawke’s Bay sheep and cattle farmer Jim Spall has been farming for over 20 years and says that in the last decade, with baleage use becoming more widespread, the disposal of silage wrap has proved to be a persistent and increasingly pressing issue.
“It creates a mass of plastic, and it’s been hard to figure out what to do with it.
“The wrap recycling programme now means farmers have an environmentally-friendly option to get rid of this plastic.
“With Agrecovery providing such a simple, cost effective system for wrap, farmers have no excuses for burning or dumping it on farm.”
The Agrecovery programme has a strong governance structure with its trustees representing Fonterra, Federated Farmers, HortNZ, Environment Waikato (for local government) and Agcarm (NZ Association for Animal Health and Crop Protection). It was established by the primary sector to address “on-farm” waste issues.
The wrap programme joins the agrichemical container recycling programme which started in April 2007. These programmes will shortly be joined by a Chemical retraction programme which is planned to start in July 2009.
You can visit Agrecovery at the NZ National Agricultural Fieldays Premier Feature at Mystery Creek 10-13th June 2009 - site M30.
About Agrecovery
The Agrecovery Foundation is a not-for-profit charitable trust which owns and governs the Agrecovery programme. The programme was developed through funding by farmer and grower groups, local government, agrichemical industry and central government.
Every year, New Zealanders dispose of millions of plastic agrichemical and animal health containers, as well as over 4000 tonnes of silage wrap. Agrecovery provides an environmentally sustainable solution for the recovery of on-farm plastic, including plastic containers and silage wrap.
All plastic containers collected are shredded, reprocessed and supplied to a New Zealand based approved processor to use as a raw material. Silage wrap will also be processed in New Zealand.
For further information please contact the Agrecovery Programme Managers
Bruce Emerson Director: 3R Group Ltd 0800 AGRECOVERY
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Users of the Agrecovery Wrap programme now have another recycling option making it even more convenient to dispose of their used silage wrap. Already more than 20,000 of the popular small recycling bags have been sold since the programme began in 2009, however some farmers have also asked for a larger recycling bag which they felt might be more suitable to their particular farm environment.
“The wrap programme has gone from strength to strength since it started but we are constantly looking at how to improve it,” said Bruce Emerson, director of 3R Group, programme managers for Agrecovery. “While the current smaller recycling bag is easy to handle and meets the needs of most farmers, we have had enquiries from those with a lot of stock seeking bigger bags so we decided to offer this larger solution.”
“We’ve made the large bags basically the same size as an alternative recycling programme to make it easier for farmers to compare prices and also for those who want to switch over to the Agrecovery service - now it’s simply a matter of ordering our bags to fit their current bin. “We’ve also had an audit carried out by AsureQuality to make sure farmers know what they can expect to fit in each bag and to cut through some of the rather rough estimates given by other recycling services.”
Available directly from Agrecovery, the new 1.3m3 bags are sold individually and hold an average 85 standard round bale wraps each. Each bag costs $60 + GST which includes the cost of on farm collection.
3R Group was delighted to be awarded ACC Tertiary Certification following an audit on 19th May.
Following the successful certification to ACC Secondary level in 2008, 3R Group decided that it should take a step up and look to achieve Tertiary level certification.
“Achievement of tertiary level shows our continued commitment to Health and Safety,” says Barbara Nicolle, Health, Safety and Quality Coordinator for 3R Group.
“As a company we’ve always been very proactive about health and safety as well as continually working to improve our business processes and the quality of the services we offer.
“After been awarded ISO 14001 accreditation in May 2009, ACC Tertiary seemed to be a logical next step.”
The culmination of the ACC audit and the commitment of all employees to health and safety resulted in the achievement of Tertiary Level Certification in the ACC Work Safety Management Programme (WSMP).
Netball official Sam Kerins was named 3R Group Official at the Unison 2010 Hawke’s Bay Sports Awards held on 29 May. The Commonwealth Games-bound netball official took home the award after a memorable year which saw him officiate at numerous ANZ Championship matches and games between the Silver Ferns and World Seven.
3R Group are proud to sponsor the awards which recognise the Bay’s top sporting talent.
As 3R Group’s new North Island sales and relationship co-ordinator for Agrecovery Leon McPhillips is hoping to encourage even more participation in the recycling programme across all sectors of the agricultural industry. Appointed in June, Leon sees his job as being about education and putting talk into action.
“I will be identifying knowledge gaps in the market with farmers, retailers and industry groups and making them aware that the programme is available. “There will be a lot of face to face work, especially with companies and organisations within the supply chain, as well as collection site operators, farmers, growers and contractors.
Five new companies have joined Agrecovery from the 1st of April bringing to 50 the number of participating brand owners. This coincides with the 3rd anniversary of the programme’s launch. “We started the programme 3 years ago with just 12 brand owners and are delighted to now have 50 supporting companies,” says Bruce Emerson, director of 3R Group, programme managers for Agrecovery.
“It’s a great result which shows the strong support that this programme has across the industry. It also makes the programme even easier for farmers and growers to use, as there are now so few brand owners outside the programme.”
One of the new brand owners, Paeroa-based AgriSea NZ Ltd, is a multi-award winning sustainable New Zealand company producing seaweed soil, foliar, turf, pasture and animal health concentrates for agriculture and horticulture. Winner of the 2008 Waikato Sustainable Company of the Year, AgriSea is committed to supporting sustainable farming. General manager Tane Bradley says “We understand the size of the on-farm plastics problem for farmers in general and are pleased to partner with Agrecovery to be part of the solution.”
