No deposit or environmental fee | SARM delegates defeated a motion to institute a recycling deposit on the large plastic bags
Rural municipal councillors meeting in Regina last week agreed that plastic grain bags are a nuisance, but they couldn’t decide how best to get farmers to clean them up.
A resolution passed at the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities annual convention asked the province to look at regulations to encourage farmers to use the bags more responsibly. Two other resolutions suggesting environmental fees were voted down.
The RM of Torch River said a fee paid at the point of sale should be substantial enough to cover the cost of recycling and a deposit return fee.
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The RM of Samson said a recycling deposit of $300 on large plastic grain bags should be implemented.
Arnold Boyko, reeve of the RM of Lakeside, said the bags are sitting in fields for years and becoming a haven for rats.
The Provincial Rat Eradication Program (PREP) recommends the bags be used only for short-term storage.
“Beyond nine months of storage in a grain bag, you’re starting to see rat infestation, if not sooner,” said Carmen Sterling, reeve of the Weyburn RM and chair of the PREP board.
Empty grain bags also attract rats that are after the last bits on the ground.
One delegate said farmers would be more inclined to clean up the bags if there were more places to take them, fee or no fee.
Doug Thul, administrator for the RM of Redburn, sits on the board of the Moose Jaw River Watershed Stewards. The organization has been involved in recycling projects for the past few years, first on its own as a pilot and since last March as part of the provincial government’s grain bag recycling project.
“We’ve had a return of about a half dozen semi loads (of plastic),” he told the convention.
The last two loads saw total cost recovery, he said, meaning the Alberta recycler is finding a use for the plastic and there is actually money coming back.
Thul said it’s too soon to put a deposit or environmental fee on the bags. More bag rollers need to be placed at more locations, and he urged farmers to be good stewards.
The resolutions were defeated, but agriculture minister Bob Bjornerud the next day announced the province’s recycling project would be extended for another two years and the government would contribute $210,000 through Growing Forward.
Farmers recycled about 275,000 pounds of agricultural plastic and baler twine last year. Stretched out, the bags would cover 80 kilometres.
There are now 10 collection sites through the project: Viscount, Abbey, Unity, Hirsch, Macoun, Kelvington, Prince Albert, Moose Jaw, Milestone and Mossbank.
