A one-year pilot program will launch six grain bag recycling projects in Saskatchewan this year to help farmers get rid of plastic waste.
Provincial agriculture minister Bob Bjornerud said the bags are becoming more popular because they are convenient, but disposal is a concern.
“Those grain bags are humongous,” he told reporters after announcing the program at the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan annual meeting.
“That’s an awful lot of plastic. It’s just kind of a nuisance out there.”
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The wind can blow them around the countryside or rodents can move in.
Many farmers burn the bags because they have no other option.
Plastic recyclers cannot accept them because they are usually dirty and still contain grain. The bags are also made of a different grade of plastic than most other recyclables.
The only willing recycler is in Alberta.
The Moose Jaw River Watershed Stewards Inc. held a collection day at Milestone, Sask., last spring and rolled the bags for shipping to Alberta. Local farmers manufactured the roller.
The organization collected more than 60,000 pounds of plastic from 25 producers. The recycler turned it into small plastic pellets.
Bjornerud said it will be one of the six projects participating in the pilot program this year. The other five have not yet been determined.
Each project could have multiple collection sites, which will also accept plastic twine.
The program will cost more than $200,000. The federal and provincial governments are contributing $160,000 on a 60-40 percent basis, and the Provincial Council of Agriculture Development and Diversification Boards, which will administer the project, is providing $50,000.
PCAB chair Alex Mitchell said there are 41 ADD boards in six regions and the projects will likely be organized in those regions.
He said the program is necessary because plastic waste is showing up everywhere.
“It’s difficult to deal with,” he said. “Once you open a bag, especially if it’s froze down or it’s half covered with snow, it’s hard to clean up.”
Bjornerud said companies who sell the bags likely have some responsibility for clean-up, as do producers.
However, Mitchell said it’s like buying a plastic jug of milk.
“Once you buy it, it’s yours,” he said.
He hopes a successful pilot will result in an ongoing program and possibly a recycler in the province.
“Hopefully it will expand to the point that the involvement that the government has done is probably adequate,” Mitchell said.
“After the startup and getting it running, maybe it can even make money and expand in that manner. Maybe three years down the road grain bags will be a thing of the past, too.”
The pilots should be operating by July.
Moose Jaw River Watershed Stewards Inc. has set up two consolidation depots in the Rural Municipality of Caledonia at Milestone and the RM of Moose Jaw. They will accept grain bags and twine until September.
The twine should be in a bag that is easily handled.
The grain bags should be cleaned as much as possible and rolled as tightly as possible.
A roller is available for rent through the organization, which can be reached at www.mjriver.ca.
