Farmers, growers cleaning up their act

Farmers and growers are making ever-increasing efforts to recycle plastics and chemicals.

Farmers and growers across the country can be proud of their collective efforts to reduce the burning and burying of agricultural plastics according to rural recycler Agrecovery.

"We're now in our 10th year of operations, and the numbers prove that farmers will make good environmental choices if they have accessible options for their farm waste," Agrecovery Foundation chairwoman (and dairy farmer) Adrienne Wilcox said.

"Together with contractors, growers and other users of agrichemicals, farmers have recycled 1.4 million kilograms of plastic containers and safely disposed of 100,000 kilograms of unwanted chemicals.

"In the past these options simply weren't available, but Agrecovery proves that if it's there, they will use it."

Agrecovery provided recycling and recovery for chemicals and their packaging through a combination of on-property collections, recycling events, and a network of permanent collection sites across the country.

"We started the programme with 18 brands that recognised their responsibility to provide a long-term solution for their products' packaging when the farmer or contractor had finished with it," she said.

"Not only has that number grown to 65 brands, but we've also added large drum recovery and chemical collection."

Manufacturers and distributors were setting a great example for all New Zealand businesses, not just in the rural sector, by providing a stewardship solution for their customers who have products and packaging to dispose of.

Ms Wilcox said a buried 20-litre container would take more than 400 years to break down, while burning it released harmful dioxins and furans into the air and soil.

Recycling it saved energy equivalent to two litres of petrol.

"It's a bit of no brainer, as some of our recyclers like to say," she said, adding that what was acceptable practice in the past would not be acceptable in the future: "We have to find ethical ways of dealing with farm waste that line up with the demands of our export markets, and with farmers' desire to be good stewards of their land."

- Canterbury was leading the way, with 325,574 containers and 22,600 litres of chemicals surrendered to Agrecovery over the last 10 years. Northland ranked 13th out of 15 regions, with 22,443 containers and 890 litres.