Alberta farmers and ranchers will be able to recycle their grain bags and twine starting this Fall.

The Agricultural Plastics Recycling Group in Alberta has selected Cleanfarms to operate the three year pilot program funded through Alberta Ag and Forestry.

Cleanfarms General Manager, Barry Friesen, says the service will be free of charge.

"What the organizers have requested is there be up to 20 sites in the first year, and we want them scattered across the entire Province. So we're going from the Peace River region all the way down to the bottom."

Friesen says they're in the process of determining where the collection sites will be, where they'll start collecting grain bags and twine sometime in the Fall.

The Agricultural Plastics Recycling Group is made up of 20 stakeholder organizations, with Alberta Beef Producers tasked with keeping track of accounting activities and coordinating the program.

Back in January, Alberta Agriculture and Forestry had announced it was investing $750,000 to implement a recycling program, and an additional $250,000 in funding from the department was announced in February.

Cleanfarms will also conduct a study to figure out how many ag plastics are actually in Alberta, and what markets exist for recycled materials.

Friesen says the grain bags are reused to make flexible farm irrigation pipe and plastic bags, and twine is recycled into other polypropylene products.

He says they're excited to give Alberta farmers other options than rather than storing bulky grain bags on farms, burning them, or taking the plastic to the landfill.

"I'm quite encouraged by the fact that Alberta has a great recycling culture and I think they'll be quick to come to the table."

 

Read more: Alberta Invests In Recycling Agriculture Plastics

Read more: Province Increases Investment In Ag Plastic Recycling Pilot

 

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