Cleanfarms and the Thompson-Nicola Regional District (TNRD) are launching a new pilot program to recycle bale wrap and silage bags and covers; a move that one TNRD director feels is long overdue. The new program will help divert agricultural plastics from being landfilled, and will support a more sustainable agricultural sector in the Thompson-Nicola region.
Funded by a four-year, $134,500 commitment from the TNRD, the project runs from now through December 2028. The pilot program will provide selected farms and ranches with compactors, making it easier for them to recycle silage bags, silo bags, and tubes, silage tarps and bunker covers, and plastic stretch bale wrap for silage and hay bales (individual or continuous wrap).
The lack of recycling opportunities for these products is a longstanding concern of Doug Haughton, TNRD director for Area 鈥淟.鈥� Haughton spent 39 years in the agriculture industry with two John Deere dealerships, and saw firsthand how much of this material ends up in the landfill (or worse places).”