Plastic silage wrap as seen on hundreds of farms around the country. Recycling company Agrecovery has announced it will next year withdraw from collecting the plastics. Photo / File
Plastic silage wrap as seen on hundreds of farms around the country. Recycling company Agrecovery has announced it will next year withdraw from collecting the plastics. Photo / File
The Agrecovery Rural Recycling Programme will stop collecting and recycling used silage plastics.
Agrecovery has collected more than 700 tonnes of used silage plastics from farms over the past four years, but is withdrawing next year because of a combination of rising transport costs, ongoing contamination issues and a lackof local recycling solutions.
Company chairman Graeme Peters said the core Agrecovery programmes for empty agrichemical and animal health containers and unwanted or expired agrichemicals are unaffected and continue to grow.
"We will be focusing maximum effort into increasing the recovery of containers and waste chemicals in the years ahead," he said. Meanwhile farmers should continue to recycle their wrap through the remaining scheme provider, Plasback, which should clear confusion over who provides silage wrap recycling.
"Agrecovery is intent on recycling becoming standard practice on New Zealand's rural properties and we are working with Plasback to ensure that positive momentum is not lost with silage plastic recycling," Peters said.
Plasback Scheme manager Chris Hartshorne said: "For us it's business as usual and we'll be collecting both Plasback and Agrecovery liners from farms while the transition occurs. We intend Plasback liners to be available from all rural retail stores over the coming weeks."
