Waste plastic pick-up made easier

A Waikato contractor who collects waste plastic from farms for the Plasback recycling scheme has added a truck with a crane to his operation to keep up with increasing business.

Matamata-based Plasback collector Roger Slattery, who runs Slattery Contracting, has added a truck with a mounted Hiab crane to his operation. ‘‘We used to rely on the farmer loading the bags of recycled wrap on to our trailer,’’ Mr Slattery said.

‘‘Now they can leave it on a track or tanker loop where it is accessible and we can just pick it up ourselves.’’

Slattery Contracting also runs a baler that compacts the bags of wrap and readies them for shipping.

Mr Slattery said the volume of plastic waste collected from farms throughout Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Manawatu and Pukekohe continued to grow.

Plasback scheme manager Chris Hartshorne said the main contractors were investing in extra equipment as farmers recycled more waste silage film and chemical containers.

In the year ending June 2012, Plasback collected 677 tonnes of waste plastic from New Zealand farms – an increase of 30 per cent.

‘‘Our annual figure includes 630 tonnes of waste silage film,’’ Mr Hartshorne said.

‘‘This brings the total amount of plastic we have collected since we launched the scheme in 2005 to more than 1600 tonnes,’’ he said.