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Repurposing scrap agricultural plastics

There is new life for scrap plastic materials collected from farms. In collaboration with the Ontario Biomass Producers’ Cooperative and with support from Growing Forward 2 (GF2), a southwestern Ontario company has developed a process to recycle used agricultural plastics.

Switch Energy Corp. of Clinton, Ontario is processing bale wrap, netting and twine, silage bags and tarps, fertilizer and salt bags, mulch film, and greenhouse plastics as well as other types of plastics like pallet shrink wrap into plastic pellets that can be combined with biofibres or bio-based resins for compounding.

Designed to be simple to manage on-farm, the recycling program offers farmers free collection totes for the various types of plastic to be recycled, and Switch Energy Corp will provide free pick up once at least 10 totes have been filled. Discounts on new plastic film purchases are also available.

Because the plastics are coming from agricultural uses, they can often be contaminated with dirt, straw or other materials when they are returned for recycling where they are shredded and washed before being processed. Switch Energy Corp originally envisioned milling the plastics into a fine powder, but initial industry feedback redirected their efforts to develop small plastic pellets instead.

Various plastic pellet samples were presented to potential customers who manufacture products like biocomposites roof shingles, puck board, and blown film, as well as work with injection molding, with the goal of developing and expanding the bio-composite sector in Ontario.

Growing Forward 2 is a federal-provincial-territorial initiative. The Agricultural Adaptation Council assists with the delivery of GF2 programming in Ontario.

Source: AAC


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