By Curtis Galbraith/EverythingGP

126 full semi loads

Tonnes of baler twine, grain bag plastic being recycled

Apr 3, 2023 | 2:59 PM

Cleanfarms says its work to recycle agricultural plastics has resulted in tonnes of material being collected.

It says through the end of last year, farmers had brought in almost 2270 tonnes of grain bags and another 336 tonnes of baler twine since the Alberta Ag Plastic: Recycle It project started in 2019.

Cleanfarms says that amounts to 126 full semi loads of plastic and enough twine for 922,000 large square hay bales.

The organization says in a release that grain bags go to one of two facilities in Alberta, located in Bassano and Bashaw. Twine is shipped to the US.

“Grain bag plastic is converted into plastic pellets which are shipped to manufacturers across Canada and the USA to be used to make new plastic items such as agricultural film plastics, plastic bags, composite dimensional lumber, and agricultural fence posts. Research and development are underway to use these pellets in the manufacturing of new grain bags.”

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“Twine is recycled into plastic pellets which are blended with other plastic resins to manufacture products such as car parts, flowerpots, composite decking, and dimensional lumber,” says the same release.

There are several locations that collect this material.

A map can be found here.