Alberta farm organization joins ag plastics recycling group

Nov 07, 2017

Alberta Beef Producers hopes to implementpass a recycling program during its next AGM

By Diego Flammini
News Reporter
Farms.com

A numer of Alberta organizations are working together on a program to properly recycle agricultural plastics.

Alberta Beef Producers (ABP) joined a number of other farm organizations, the Recycling Council of Alberta, and Alberta Environment and Parks to form the Ag Plastic Recycling Working Group.

And it appears farmers are in favour of an ag plastics recycling initiative.

This summer, 22 Alberta producers participated in a survey about plastic disposal. The majority (62 per cent ) of respondents said they burn their plastics and 95 per cent said plastic disposal is an issue.

There are three types of ag plastic, according to ABP.

1) Twine – can be recycled back into twine

2) Film plastic – can take many forms, including silage and grain bags

3) Net wrap – can’t be recycled

ABP representatives are looking to Europe for examples of how to properly dispose of or reuse agricultural plastics.

Solway Recycling in the United Kingdom, for example, makes sheep pens and recycling bins from recycled agricultural plastics.

A recycling program could mean the plastic products cost up to 8 per cent more, Grinde says, but the extra cost is worth it when you consider the results.

“If there’s a recycling program in place when you buy (the plastics), there’s already a disposal mechanism in place for it … so you don’t have to worry about what you’re going to do with it,” Assar Grinde, chair of the recycling working group, told Okotoks Online on Monday “When you buy the product, you know that it’s going to be taken care of.”

A recycling strategy could also help strengthen the image of the industry among consumers, he added.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.