By the end of this month, New Zealand farmers and growers will have recycled one million kg of plastic containers through the Agrecovery Rural Recycling programme.
“It’s a significant milestone for sustainability in the primary sector, so we’re celebrating by giving away a new Suzuki farm bike,” says Agrecovery Foundation Chair Adrienne Wilcock, a dairy farmer from Matamata who represents Dairy NZ on the Foundation.
In the ‘Kick start your winter clean up’, anyone who recycles with Agrecovery before the end of June will go into the draw to win a Suzuki DR200 Trojan (RRP $5995), a popular model ideal for most rural applications.
The Agrecovery container programme started in 2007, offering farmers and growers free recycling of plastic containers from 12 participating brand owners at 25 collection points. It now has over 60 brand owners of agrichemical, dairy hygiene and animal health products financially supporting the programme, with more than 70 permanent collection points throughout the country.
And the number of farmers and growers recycling with Agrecovery is growing significantly year on year.
“In year one we collected 32,850 kg and now, in year eight, we expect to reach 230,000 kg, taking us well past one million kg overall.
“Laid end to end, 1 million kg of containers would stretch approximately 325km or the entire length of the Clutha River, New Zealand’s second longest river.”
The recycled containers are sent to Astron Plastics in Auckland for processing into safe end uses, such as underground electrical cable cover.
“Through recycling with Agrecovery, farmers and growers have avoided using the equivalent of 8,500 cubic meters of farm dumps, or unnecessarily polluting the air and land by burning the plastic,” says Mrs. Wilcock.
“Instead, using this volume of recycled plastic compared to new plastic has an energy saving equivalent to 1.875 million litres of petrol. That’s a massive environmental benefit whichever way you look at it.”
To ‘Kick start your winter clean up’ with Agrecovery and be in to win, simply take your triple rinsed containers to an Agrecovery container site or event before the end of June. Containers must be empty, free from chemical residue and dirt inside and out, with the label left on for brand identification. See which brands of containers are free to recycle.
Read the Agrecovery Container Promotion leaflet
Agrecovery Competition Terms and Conditions apply. | Agrecovery container collection receipts and drum bookings from 1 April 2015 to 30 June 2015 will be eligible for the draw. | Competition will be drawn 24th July. | Winner will be notified by email or phone. | *RRP including GST at time of printing.