Cypress County urges the use of fewer plastic grain bags

Cypress County wants to see fewer plastic grain bags ending up in local landfills or burning pits.

According to Jason Storch, agricultural supervisor at Cypress County, there has been a noticeable increase in usage of the long, sausage-like plastic grain bags the past few years. Many farmers are increasingly using them as a cheaper storage alternative to building new bins or granaries when facing higher-yield years in their fields.

“We know the bags are out there, and we know the people are using them,” Storch says. “If they need it, they are going to use it. But when they are done, there is no active, provincial recycling program ... Guys are not supposed to burn them, but there is concern they might.”

There are many environmental problems with these kinds of bags, confirms Storch; especially when they are discarded on the landscape or burned as farm waste. Ag. plastics do not break down naturally, and can cause major problems for wildlife in the first instance. And in the second instance, they release toxic chemicals into the atmosphere; so much so, burning them is actually prohibited under “Substance Release Regulations” in the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act.

“We don’t want to see them blow away in the wind,” states Storch. “We don’t want to see them burned. Plus, we don’t really want them to show up in our landfill either. So the question becomes: What can we do if we think there is an appropriate way to handle them? And we think that should be recycling.

“So now, it’s about how we facilitate that happening ... At our last Ag. Service Board meeting it was decided the municipality will accept these bags. We will set them aside and we’ll facilitate getting them to the recycling depot.”

However, the county still wants more feedback from local producers, and has partnered with 40 Mile County to host a survey on best options for agricultural plastics’ disposal. Producers who use plastic grain bags are asked to go online and complete the survey at their respective county’s website.