Drive to recycle paddock plastics
TWENTY or so years ago when driving through the Bowen and Burdekin farming belts, it wasn’t all that uncommon to see plumes of foul, black smoke billowing into the atmosphere.
More often than not it was bales of black farm plastic being set alight. Plastic mulch is used to inhibit weed growth and to retain moisture in the soil. Another farm plastic, trickle tape, is used to deliver water to the plants.
There was so much of it left over at the end of every crop cycle, no one knew what to do with it. Local council dumps couldn’t handle it because of the massive volumes. No one was recycling agricultural plastics back in those pre- global warming days. And so it was buried or burned.
Climate change concerns kicked in and the world almost overnight became worried about the damage being done to the ozone layer by poisons such as the carbon molecules contained in the smoke coming from the burning dumps of farm plastics.
Environmental laws were introduced and the burning of the agricultural plastics was banned. Farmers were then faced with the problem of disposal.
President of the Bowen Gumlu Growers Association, Carl Walker, said that with burning outlawed the only thing that could be done was to bury the plastics. Other uses were found. The plastic was and is still being used as landfill and as bullet walls at rifle ranges. But, there have been huge steps forward in other areas.
“Things are changing all of the time. One thing being considered is the manufacture of fence pickets,” he said.
“Irrigation trickle tape is recycled, but the main problem with the plastic mulch is that it is covered in dirt and has sticks and vegetable matter stuck to it,” he said.
Allard Bernhofen from recycling company Re. Group said that between 50 and 60 per cent of irrigation trickle tape used in Australia was now being recycled.
“In the last year, Re. Group baled around 1200 tonnes of agricultural plastic in Queensland. Nationally, the percentage of agricultural plastic recovered would be lower,” Mr Bernhofen said.
He said the baled was made available cycling companies.
“Once the irrigation tape is made available to recyclers the product is washed, processed and pelletised. This pelletised product is made available to manufacturers who pro- plastic to re- duce a wide range of products.
“It is made into things like plastic benches, boardwalk panel, chairs for concrete slab works,” he said.
Mr Bernhofen said he was not aware of any research being undertaken by state or federal governments that might open up further uses for farm plastic recycling.
“It would be good to have more support for the approach, so that all of the plastic could be recovered and recycled, instead of just some of it,” he said.
Mr Walker said government assistance was needed to develop technology to help farmers better recover plastics from their paddocks.
He said part of the $ 444 million given by the Federal Government to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation could be used to develop improved farming technologies.
“Some of this money could go towards developing machinery that cleans mulch plastics and makes it suitable for recycling,” he said.