Waikato and Canterbury lead the way with rural recycling volumes
Figures released by the Agrecovery Rural Recycling Programme show that more farmers and growers throughout New Zealand are embracing sustainable farming practices by recycling their waste plastics.
In the last six months of 2012 around 6500 Agrecovery members have handed over 75,000kg of container plastic and just under 200,000kg of used silage plastics for recycling with Agrecovery.
Agrecovery sales and marketing manager Duncan Scotland says that these volumes represent significant growth in programme uptake across all regions and market sectors.
“Total volume across all materials is around 65% higher than a year ago, while the volume of silage plastics collected has nearly doubled. The waste materials collected just in the last six months would fill over 150 shipping containers, a great result when you consider that most of it would have previously been buried or burnt on-farm.”
From a regional perspective, Waikato and Canterbury have the highest volumes of materials collected (approximately 47,000 and 42,000kg respectively in the last six months), and Duncan notes that Agrecovery is working hard to provide greater access to services in all areas.
“With over 70 permanent collection sites our programme is easily accessible to the majority of rural properties in New Zealand, but recently we’ve been going to additional areas and holding one-day collection events to extend our reach even further.
“Some of the collections we’ve held have been hugely popular, with farmers’ utes queued up at the gate to deliver hundreds of containers at a time. In the case of Darfield (inland Canterbury) we had to schedule a second event due to farmer demand.”
In parallel with increased recycling activity, rural industry is showing greater commitment to product stewardship with over 60 product manufacturers and importers now financially supporting Agrecovery, and many other organisations, retailers and councils contributing valuable resources and support. This enables Agrecovery’s services to be either free for users, as with the container programme, or as affordable as possible.
Duncan adds, “As Agrecovery broadens its support base and increases volume, we can make our services even more accessible, which in turn encourages greater participation and growth. So we are hugely positive about the future for Agrecovery and helping rural New Zealand to minimise the environmental impacts of their primary activities.”
Rinse, Return, Rewards with Agrecovery Containers
This February and March the Agrecovery container programme is again offering $5000 worth of rewards to encourage more farmers and growers to get recycling.
For the chance to win one of ten $500 vouchers, simply take eligible containers to any of the 70 plus Agrecovery collection sites nationwide during February and March 2013. Each collection receipt filled out constitutes an automatic entry into the draw, which is open to both new and existing members.
2013 Chemical Collections: What’s in your shed?
This year Agrecovery will be conducting numerous regional collections for unwanted or expired agrichemicals and animal health products. The first collections will be held in Waikato, Otago, Southland and Canterbury with bookings closing in early March. Products from Agrecovery’s 59 contributing brand owners are free for collection, while user-charges may apply for unknown or other products.