Farmers and growers are making ever-increasing efforts to recycle plastics and chemicals.
Farmers and growers are making ever-increasing efforts to recycle plastics and chemicals.
Government funding of $381,000 announced recently is a shot in the arm for the agricultural industry's ongoing campaign to recycle and re-use, Federated Farmers environment spokesperson Chris Allen said.
Agrecovery, a not-for-profit agency of which Feds is a founding trustee, has since 2006 diverted from landfill, or harmful disposal practiceslike burning or burying, well over 2000 tonnes of agrichemical plastic containers and other materials.
"Farmers are highly motivated to do the right thing for the environment, and this programme shows them that products once considered rubbish have a value, can be recycled and re-purposed for products such as underground utility coverings and building materials," Allen said.
Farmers are already able to drop-off agrichemical containers at nearly 100 collection sites around the country under the voluntary product stewardship scheme run by Agrecovery. Agrecovery also collects large quantities of containers and drums from farms, and disposes of unwanted agrichemicals. The manufacturers who participate in the programme fund it by paying a levy on the products they sell into the marketplace.
"Building on this, the successful grant application to the Ministry for the Environment's Waste Minimisation Fund will enable Agrecovery to hold a series of one-stop-shop waste recovery events. As well as agrichemicals and their containers, farmers will be able to bring along other farm waste such as fertilizer bags, used oil, scrap metal, silage/bailage wrap and other soft plastics," he said.
"The aim is to see rural waste either recycled, or disposed of, in an efficient, safe and managed way. We need that national-scale system of recovery, and good access for farmers in every part of the provinces."
Agrecovery general manager Simon Andrew said they trialed two pop-up rural waste recovery events in Matamata and Geraldine last year and close to 20 tonnes of material was collected in just two days.
Six more trial events are taking place this year as Agrecovery "refines and tests" processes, Andrew said, and the funding will enable the frequency and geographical spread of the pop-ups to increase.
