“This 3-year project is part of the MRC Pontiac’s approach to reduce the amount of residual materials sent to landfill. It responds to the desire of Pontiac’s agricultural businesses to reduce the environmental impacts of their activities,” explains Thierry Raimbault, environmental coordinator for the MRC Pontiac.

During phase 1 of the project, some fifteen pre-chosen agricultural businesses will receive a press specially developed for baling agricultural plastics intended for the conservation of forage plants. Among them, beef producer Rick Younge of Clarendon, one of the instigators of the project, believes that this initiative is beneficial for both the environment and the agricultural community “in order to change the public’s perception of agriculture,” says Younge.

Recovered plastics will then be recycled or sent for energy recovery in collaboration with CleanFarms, a non- profit environmental stewardship organization. “It is by working with local stakeholders and studying collection methods elsewhere in the province of Québec that the MRC and its partners have come up with this pilot project. Eventually, a total of 45 agricultural businesses will be able to join the project,” says Nolwenn Beaumont, project coordinator in green economy at the Conseil régional en environnement et développement durable de l’Outaouais (CREDDO).

This project is conducted in collaboration with the CREDDO and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPAQ). It is also financed by MAPAQ within the framework of component 2 of the Prime-Vert program.

Farm businesses interested in learning more or possibly in joining the project during phases 2 and 3 can write to: t.raimbault@mrcpontiac.qc.ca.

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The Alberta Ag-Plastic Recycle It pilot is a three-year program, funded by the provincial government and administered by the Alberta Beef Producers. Producers can drop off plastic at 20 collection sites around the province. Details on collection sites are online at the Collection Sites page at cleanfarms.ca.

Cleanfarms, the organization behind the program, also runs grain bag recycling programs in Saskatchewan, and empty container recycling in Manitoba and Quebec. Other western Canadian provinces have also had collection programs for materials such as livestock meds in certain areas in the fall.

To see which areas of each province will be collecting these materials next fall, visit cleanfarms.ca.

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Cleanfarms, the national industry stewardship body operating waste management and recycling programs for agricultural packaging, said Thursday that plastic products such as grain bags and plastic chemical packaging including jugs and bags are “not on the list of single-use plastics targeted for bans.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday the federal government will ban certain single-use plastics “as early as 2021,” including plastic bags, straws, cutlery, plates and stir sticks, “where supported by scientific evidence and warranted.”

The government said it will also “take other steps to reduce pollution from plastic products and packaging” and work with the provinces and territories to set standards and targets for companies that make plastic products or sell items packaged in plastics.

While farm plastics won’t be affected by bans, Cleanfarms general manager Barry Friesen said in a release, the ag industry could see increased regulations for such products through government industry responsibility programs.

“For example, in Saskatchewan, grain bag recycling is now required under a provincially-regulated industry stewardship program,” he said, referring to the environmental handling fee paid at point of purchase for such bags to cover recycling costs.

That fee, in place since last November, is 25 cents a kilogram, which amounts to about $31 on a nine-by-200-foot grain bag.

Governments’ efforts to reduce the amount of dumped plastics may mean “non-durable products and packaging that don’t currently have programs or that have low recycling recovery rates may be regulated down the road,” Friesen said.

Along with its Canada-wide programs to collect and recycle single-use pesticide and fertilizer containers and manage unwanted pesticides and old livestock medications, Cleanfarms today also operates seed and pesticide bag collection programs in Eastern Canada with pilots in Western Canada.

The organization was announced Tuesday as the successful operator for a three-year pilot in Alberta, collecting grain bags and twine for recycling.

The specific products, rules and regulations to be included in Ottawa’s plastics ban “will be determined following a state-of-the-science assessment on plastic pollution in the environment,” the government said Monday.

That assessment, already underway, is to include peer review and public consultations as well as “socio-economic considerations.”

Regulatory actions, the government said, could include requiring products to contain a set amount of recycled content, or to be “capable of being recycled or repaired.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The 2015 schedule takes the program to the Okanagan, Interior and Kootenay regions of British Columbia, Red Deer-south region of Alberta, Davidson-north region of Saskatchewan and across the provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The schedule and drop-off locations will be announced this summer.

There is no collection charge and the unwanted products will be safely transported for disposal at a high-temperature incineration facility.

Collection of obsolete livestock medications was introduced as a pilot project in Ontario in 2013 and last year was added to the regular schedule for obsolete pesticide collections. CleanFARMS has been running the obsolete pesticide collection program since 1998 offering the service in each province at least every three years.

In 2016, collection points will be organized for Red Deer-north in Alberta and the whole of Manitoba, Ontario and Newfoundland. The rotation starts over again in 2017 with the return to British Columbia’s Fraser Valley and Vancouver Island, Davidson-south in Saskatchewan, and across Quebec and Prince Edward Island.

The CAHI’s members are developers, manufacturers and distributors of animal health products.

CleanFARMS is an industry stewardship organization focused on proper management of agricultural plastic packaging and other non-organic waste generated on farms. It is funded by members from Canada’s crop science industry (developers, manufacturers, distributors and retailers of pest control products and fertilizers) with costs recovered in the purchase price of products. Other funders may be involved depending on the province and project.

CleanFARMS’ flagship collection program for empty pesticide and fertilizer containers hit a landmark in 2013 with the 100th million container collected for recycling since the program was launched in 1989.

Collection of empty seed and pesticide bags is being introduced this year from May through September in agricultural regions of Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes.

After two years of piloting a collection program for ag film (plastic bale and silage wrap and grain bags) and plastic twine in Manitoba, this new service was scheduled for the last week in March and will run again October 26-31 in the Neepawa area, Steinbach, and rural municipalities of Dauphin, Norfolk-Treherne, Portage la Prairie, and Edward. Funding was provided by Green Manitoba, an agency of Manitoba Conservation and Water Stewardship.

The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture funded the 2013 pilot for collecting plastic ag film and twine in Ontario. Other private and local collections are now serving the province’s needs.

CleanFARMS spokesperson Erin O’Hara says options for recycling these products seem to be opening up as technology changes. A few companies are now actively looking for plastic ag film and twine. One recycler is trying to recycle netting.

For more information visit cleanfarms.ca.

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