Recycled plastic has value
A agricultural plastic recycling business is leading the way when it comes to saving the environment. Plasback, the agricultural plastic recycling business, has collected 32,000 tonnes of plastic waste from farms all over New Zealand since 2007. The Co-operative Difference initiative, which came into effect June 2021, has given the initiative a big boost and up to 10 cents of Fonterra shareholders’ milk payment comes from their efforts to farm sustainably. Plasback is also developing a new site in Christchurch with a larger capacity to cope with the collection and baling. The Government has set a target date of June 2024 to have a mandatory, industry-wide product stewardship scheme in place for all agricultural plastics.
Published : 2 years ago by Sonita Chandar in Business Environment
The Peters family from South Canterbury were the first farmers to have waste plastic collected by Plasback. From left Philip, Noeline and John Peters with the very first Plasback collection in 2007.
Since its inception in 2007, the agricultural plastic recycling business Plasback has collected more than 32,000 tonnes (32 million kilograms) of plastic waste from farms all over New Zealand.
The business has come a long way since it collected its first consignment of used silage wrap from South Canterbury farmers John and Noeline Peters in 2007.
Plasback commercial manager Neal Shaw says it is positive to see the agricultural industry’s growing appreciation of the need to recycle used plastic.
“It is heartening that more people in the farming community as well as manufacturers and distributors are now making an effort to recycle their waste.
“More and more companies have realised they must provide their customers a way to dispose of their waste responsibly.”
Fonterra’s Co-operative Difference initiative, which came into effect June 2021, has given the initiative a big boost. Under this scheme, up to 10 cents of Fonterra shareholders’ milk payment comes from their efforts to farm sustainably. One measure they can take to achieve this payment is to recycle their used plastic.
“This has prompted a big increase in demand for our on-farm collection service, and we have put the infrastructure in place to be able to handle it.
“We recently commissioned three new balers, which brings our total up to nine balers across the country, enabling us to process the plastic we gather more efficiently,” Neal said.
They are also developing a new site in Christchurch with a larger capacity to cope with the collection and baling.
Shaw says they are still focusing on collecting silage wrap and pit covers from farms which are the two main streams of products they began with. However, there has been an upturn in demand to recycle other products.
“We have collected alkathene, vineyard netting and we more recently collected waste plastic such as building wrap from the construction sector.
“We were happy to step in and assist these businesses who were looking for a solution to dispose of these products through recycling rather than landfill. It is really great we can assist other industries and help communities to reduce their waste.”
The Government has set a target date of June 2024 to have a mandatory, industry-wide product stewardship scheme in place for all agricultural plastics.
Discussions about the shape of that scheme are now underway. Plasback wants to ensure any levies applied do not significantly increase the amount that farmers have to pay to cover the cost of recycling.
“Plasback has shown that when farmers and suppliers directly cover some of the cost of collection and reprocessing, it is possible to provide an efficient, cost-effective service. We want this model to be part of any future product stewardship scheme,” Shaw says.
He says as the pressure on farmers to deal with their plastic waste builds, some potential recyclers may look to cut corners by collecting loose plastic rather than using Plasback’s bin and liner system.
This can reduce the value of the waste plastic to manufacturers because it is dirty and more difficult to deal with, as well as add significant costs to transport to secondary sorting sites.
“The bin and liner system we introduced to New Zealand almost 16 years ago works well, and the factories we sell to appreciate it. We don’t want to see New Zealand get a reputation for supplying low-quality recyclables.
“Each tonne of plastic collected and recycled represents 1.27 tonnes of CO2 equivalent, so 21,000 tonnes represents about 26,670 tonnes of CO2,” Shaw says.
“Using the sustainability agency Encon’s CO2 offset formula, this amounts to the carbon bound by 1,111,250 trees.
“That has got to be good for everyone.”