Giving agricultural plastics a second life

Agricultural plastics are part of everyday life on farms and ranches. Thanks to expanding recycling programs, materials like grain bags, baler twine and net wrap can be transformed into new products instead of ending up in landfills.

Alberta farmers use an estimated 14,000 tonnes of agricultural plastics each year, including about 2,200 tonnes of baler twine. From pesticide and fertilizer containers, grain bags, plastic baler twine, to bale wrap, silage bags, and bunker covers, plastic is a large component of agriculture, including for beef producers. But unlike many household plastics, agricultural plastics often require specialized recycling programs.

These options are continually growing. Clean Farms was created as a solution to this overwhelming problem. As a national not-for-profit stewardship organization, Clean Farms runs recycling programs for ag plastics across Canada. Starting in 2010 to manage and take over what was previously called the Small Container Program, Clean Farms began by facilitating the recycling of crop protection products, such as pesticide and fertilizer small containers as well as big bulk containers.

The business began to expand and then in 2019, Clean Farms collaborated on a pilot project, called Alberta Ag-Plastic. Recycle It!, to recycle grain bags and baler twine. The pilot program, which originally began as a three year pilot, has been extended three times now until the end of 2027.

Alberta Ag-Plastic. Recycle It! is led by the multi-stakeholder Agriculture Plastics Recycling Group and operated by Clean Farms. The funds for this program were granted by the Government of Alberta and administered by Alberta Beef Producers.

Extended Producer Responsibility

Davin Johnson is the Alberta Programs Advisor for Clean Farms. Clean Farms pilot project runs by Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), an approach that places the responsibility of recycling on the producer of the plastic material.

“With EPR, it basically says that the brand owners have to pay per unit that they put into the market, and that gets remitted to a producer responsibility organization, like Clean Farms, and then they run the program on behalf of everyone,” explains Johnson.

Clean Farms works with producers to collect the recyclable materials and then uses a third party transport service to get the materials to the recycling facilities. It’s at these facilities that the plastic materials are then broken down and created into something new.

Recycling: What your plastic turns into

Recycling plastic involves a series of steps including: sorting, cleaning, shredding, and melting/extrusion. The process ultimately ends in the formation of small, uniform pellets, which can be used as a raw material for new products.

Looking Forward

Agriculture plastic recycling has come a long way because of initiatives like these. As more farmers and ranchers take part in these recycling programs, more research can be be put into expanding recycling options and offering more collection sites. Last year alone, Clean Farms collected and recycled more than 5.2 million empty pesticide and fertilizer containers and nearly 300,000 empty seed and pesticide bags were returned. As technologies continue to advance, the future of farms really is looking clean.