As the managers and stewards of Canada’s rural land base, farmers and ranchers are increasingly aware of the impact agricultural production can have on the environment. And, like all Canadians, they want to find suitable solutions to managing plastic waste.
Farming relies on a wide range of tools for growing crops and feeding livestock, some of which utilize plastic products and packaging. Examples include plastic jugs for fertilizer and pesticides; bags for seed, pesticides and fertilizer; plastic wrap for bales and silage. It’s a challenge for farmers to find environmentally-safe ways to manage this kind of on-farm waste.
That’s where Cleanfarms comes in. A not-for-profit organization, Cleanfarms is spearheading the collection and repurposing of agriculture’s plastics, packaging and other products like empty pesticide and fertilizer containers, grain bags and baler twine. Cleanfarms’ goal is to keep recyclable materials that are no longer useful on the farm out of landfills and burn piles. This initiative is funded by its members in the crop protection, seed, fertilizer, veterinary medication and agricultural plastics industries – making recycling and waste management programs available to farmers from coast to coast.
Last year alone, more than 6.2 million empty pesticide and fertilizer containers were collected for recycling. Plus nearly 522,000 empty seed and pesticide bags and 5,550 kilograms of outdated livestock/equine medications were collected for safe disposal.
Bale wrap: Hay harvested for livestock feed is wrapped in plastic bale wrap to preserve it through the winter. Cleanfarms’ agricultural programs help farmers manage used plastics so they can keep these materials out of landfill and the environment.
(Photo courtesy of Cleanfarms)
Cleanfarms invests in new technologies to help recycling facilities put the plastic waste to good use. After sorting, the material is shredded, melted and repurposed into useful materials like agricultural fence posts, composite dimensional lumber used in industrial construction, plastic pallets, drainage tile, guard rails and parking lot curb stops.
The Cleanfarms initiative also conducts research and runs pilot projects that target waste recycling, collection, transportation and processing. They consider how a project will impact farm supply companies, veterinarians, government, farmers and others, as well as how a new program will be promoted. All these steps contribute to preventing inorganic agricultural waste from ending up in the landfill.
One example of a research project improving farming practices is a partnership between Dairy Farmers of Canada (through its Here for Tomorrow campaign) and Cleanfarms that ensures the plastics used on dairy farms to store feed (e.g., bale wraps, silage bags and feed bunker covers) can be disposed of properly when no longer needed on farm.
Silage bags: Silage bag plastic is an important agricultural tool on Canadian farms to protect livestock feed until needed. Cleanfarms is developing recycling programs so the used plastic can be recovered and repurposed in a circular economy to make new plastic products.
(Photo courtesy of Cleanfarms)
Another Cleanfarms pilot project involves recycling baler twine, which is made from plastic. Although baler twine is a valuable tool used to wrap and store hay, straw and silage, it can be challenging to manage. Disposing of it in the landfill can result in the twine twisting around wheels of equipment, and burning releases harmful gases into the atmosphere. Through Cleanfarms, farmers can bring in their twine for recycling.
Farmers and ranchers support programs like Cleanfarms because they see the benefit of minimizing and managing agricultural waste and reducing their environmental footprint. Participating farmers benefit by keeping their farms clean, investing in tools that can improve the quality of plastics available for recycling and reducing the space needed for waste storage on the farm.
For more information, see the Cleanfarms website at cleanfarms.ca.
Farmers work hard to provide for their families, care for the animals they raise and grow food safely and efficiently. The decisions they make daily influence their ability to produce nutritious and high-quality food in a sustainable, responsible way that ensures future generations can continue to farm. Canadian agriculture has created sustainability and farm stewardships initiatives to guide production and management practices in almost every sector.
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