RECYCLING DAIRY PLASTICS
(Silage Bags, Bunker Covers, Bale Wrap, Containers, etc.)
Disposable plastics are increasingly substituted for agricultural products that were previously made from longer lasting and natural materials. There are some very good reasons for this trend: In comparison with the concrete silos, glass greenhouses, and sisal twine that they replace, plastics are often safer to use, improve production efficiency, cost less, and permit greater flexibility in management. (source: http://environmentalrisk.cornell.edu/AgPlastics/BigFootTour2006/#BigFootArticle2006)
What can be done with these short-lived products after their useful life on-the-farm is over?
Some are hauled to the local solid waste transfer station. Much of the rest, however, is either stashed on the farm, plowed into a field, or burned in an open fire.
Burning "ag plastics" in open fires generates high levels of dangerous, polluting emissions, including particulates that settle in the lungs and extremely toxic dioxins that deposit on feed and enter the food chain. Stashing plastic films, tubs and twine on the farm or plowing them into a field clogs water channels, is a choking hazard for livestock and wildlife, creates mosquito breeding habitat, and is not pretty.
As use of agricultural plastics increases and continues over time, disposal becomes more difficult to ignore or to put out of sight.
Recycling is the goal of the Recycling Ag Plastics Project (RAPP). However, this goal has not been easy to achieve because " ag films" are typically dirtier than other used plastic films such as grocery bags and pallet wrap. They are also widely dispersed across the rural landscape, adding complexity and cost to the collection process.
