A company in Waterloo, Ontario, CS Plastics, is currently working on a recycling program for agricultural silage bale wrap. Our Member Service Rep., Becky Lunn, reported the following after attending a meeting in Waterloo on February 2, 2004.
CS Plastic estimates that Ontario Agriculture uses approx 6 million lbs of recyclable plastics each year. They need approx 1.6 million lbs of silage bale wrap per year to keep the plant operational for ten hours a day/ five days a week. They need around 35000 lbs a week to stay operational, but they are aiming to store approx. 200 000 lbs extra in the factory. A company spokesperson said that the machines will allow up to 15-20% dirt or hay residue. So the farmer will just have to give the plastic a good shake, and it doesn’t have to be washed or dried.
The end product will be a called Baleboard. This product is solid and can be nailed or screwed together just like wood. The product doesn’t have to be stained or varnished and it can be recycled at least six times after the initial extractIon. The product is 70% bale wrap and 30% regrind product. The bale wrap is the first step and in the future they would like to move onto other agricultural products like Silage bags, plastic baler twine, greenhouse plastic etc.
They have a 200-mile radius for collection right now in Ontario. They would like to have municipalities on side to supply the yard for the collection depots or they have also considered Co-ops. Municipalities are an important piece in this process, as they would have the most central location for the farmers. But some of their worries may be space, money and do they have to supply people to do the work. CS Plastics are responsible for the transportation from the depot stations to the factory and they have that portion added into their budget. They have not yet tried a mean of transportation but would like to try a garbage truck approach and maybe it will need some modifications but they are sure it will work. The issue with transportation is the plastic is light but bulky, so they need to compact it to make the transportation viable. They are hoping to compacted at least 15-20 000 1bs on one truck. The only reason why they have not yet tried a mean of. transportation is simply because they have yet to find enough plastic in one location.
CS Plastic knows the only way this project is going to be successful is with the farmers help and commitment. They would like a 10-year commitment from the farmers and depot stations that they will supply only CS Plastic with the plastic bale wrap.
CS Plastic Services goal is to establish a separate company that would produce the proposed plastic lumber. CS Plastic manufactured the equipment for Prince Edward Island’s plastic recovery program that has been operational for three years. With P.E.I.’s program it has eliminated the problem of filling up their landfill sites with agricultural plastics and it has also stopped the on farm burning of plastic. CS Plastic mission statement is ” Our mission is to produce a quality plastic lumber product affordable to the consumer, while helping to alleviate a major environmental problem in Ontario”
We look forward to hearing more on this important issue in the near future.