Recycling solution for farm plastics

Recycling collection of bale wraps and agricultural plastics, offered by Plasback, is available to farmers in Gisborne and the East Coast now.

The scheme for our region is being part funded by Gisborne District Council through the waste minimisation levy and offers special recycling liners priced at $75+gst per pack.

“With farm waste being such a large part of New Zealand’s total waste this is a good programme for our district and one we want to help get established here,” says Anne Lister, Council’s Waste Minimisation Officer.

More and more farmers and growers are implementing better, eco-friendly habits when dealing with farm waste. Plasback offers fully recyclable liners to contain different types of farm plastics from silage wrap to polyethylene drums.

“The practice of burying plastic is not good for the environment and burning plastics is prohibited in our region,” says Ms Lister.

“People who sign up to the service will be notified of when they can drop liners to the designated transfer stations for pick up and advertised on Council’s website.

“Pick-ups will be available a couple of times a year and users will be sent recycling certificate to confirm you have disposed of your plastic wastes properly.”

The liner is a crucial part of the programme as the plastics are contained in a standard unit and the whole of the liner and its contents are recyclable together – reducing costs of weighing or sorting.

Liner bins, made from the recycled plastic, are also available and help with packaging and maximizing the liner capacity.

“You can get around 150 used wraps into each liner if you use a bin and roll wraps before putting them in. If you use just a liner you may not get quite as many wraps in,” says Ms Lister.

“This simple action of placing the waste materials in as soon as possible after feed out keeps the plastic much cleaner and this means recyclers are better able to use the plastic.

“The collected liners are recycled into many products including rubbish bags, plastic lumber and decking materials.”

Plasback collected a record volume of waste plastic from farms during the month of September last year, with over 250 tonnes collected and baled during the month.

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