MINNESOTA AGRICULTURAL & MARINE FILM PLASTIC RECYCLING

New Challenges, Opportunities and

Partnerships Brita Sailer - Executive Director

Recycling Association of Minnesota

uAgricultural film plastics uBoat wrap

Who Identifies this as an Issue?

®Farmers, Marine industry®Solid Waste & Recycling Managers® Agricultural plastics suppliers®State Agricultural and Environmental

agencies®Rural residents and Local officials

Program Rationale Recognition that : ® Increase in agricultural film plastics is

presenting disposal problem ®Need for reliable market for collected

plastics is crucial ® Public perception could become issue ®Need to begin to work in partnership to

address the issue.

ØMinnesota ranks as the 6th

largest dairy state in the country-460,000 dairy cows

Ø Estimated 15 lbs.per year per cow,Minnesotagenerates 7-10million pounds ofAg plastic per yearfrom dairy farmsalone

Agricultural plastic

®Silage bags®Bale wrap®Twine®Grain bags/totes®Nursery film®Hoop house film

Current Methods of Disposal Ø Landfilling/ Waste to

EnergyØ On-Farm burning/

burying

Bulky Plastics –Waste to Energy or Materials Recovery Facilities (MRF) ® Items are stringy- tangle in trommel /

chutes/conveyors causing shut downs ® Reduced recycling as cans, plastic

containers and other recyclables get wrapped up in material

Sanitation/ transfer site in MN

Environmental and Health Considerations

Program Challenges

®Funding®Credibility®Turf®Plastics Markets®Previous unsuccessful attempts

Earlier Projects

®Tri-County South®Dakota County Pilot®Early PCA project®Twine®Nursery/Landscape

Roto Chopper Demonstration

Recycling / Sustainable Management of

Agricultural & Marine Film Plastics

Grant Partners

Main Project Goals •Increase recycling opportunities for agricultural film plastics and boat wrap

•Establish cost effective, sustainable methods for recycling these materials

•Reduce current practices of illegal burning and on-site burial of agricultural plastics

Educate stakeholders, partners, related user groups and

individuals.

• Provide public information / training

• Organize and hold educationalforums, events, and meetings

Promote new and existing recycling and sustainable management

opportunities •Conduct assessment of needs in existingprograms for advertising and publiceducation.

•Identify areas of the state where few ifany opportunities to recycle or collectthese materials for proper disposal maybe leading to burning and on site burialpractices;

Revolution Plastics Program

®Revolution Plastics owns/ operates theirown program

® 2200 dumpsters currently on farms inWI, some in IL, IA & MN

® Free dumpsters and pick-up of plasticfor on-farm collection

®Work with local haulers if possible

Potential Issues

®Individual County /twp ordinances ®Hauler license requirements ®Spring road restrictions ®Large area to store dumpsters

during staging periods

. First week of on-farm pick-ups

Winona County 107,340 lbs of ag plastic (5.36 T)

from 134+ 8 yd dumpsters

Minnesota- Pope County Dumpster Staging Location

400 8yd dumpsters delivered week of

January 9, 2017

Boat Wrap

• Pope/Douglas Solid Waste Management's Recycling Center will be piloting the collection of Boat Wrap Plastic for recycling

• Drop off months for Boat Wrap Plastic is April and May. • Drop off is Monday through Friday only.

As of 6’3’16 they had collected 50T of Boat Wrap

Otter Tail County Solid Waste Department’s Boat Wrap Recycling Pilot Project a Success

• Recycled over 8 tons of boat wrap this spring from local businesses preventing this material from being thrown in the trash. This project was successful and will be continued in the spring of 2017.

• April-June 2016 - 8.26 tons collected in six scheduled pick ups

• Total Blue Recycled: 15,180 lbs. (7.59 tons)

• Total White Recycled: 1,332 lbs. (.67 tons)

Marine Max in Rogers began recycling boat wrap – Spring 2016

“ By recycling the boat wrap, we will save more than half of what we spent last year on disposal.” Nicole Maves, Marine Max

Current Status Collectors: u Some Marinas and MRFs uSome film plastic manufactures

take back some from customers uPilot projects Recyclers: uChoice Plastics, Up North Plastics uRevolution Plastics u McLeod County/GreenForest

New applications for plastic films are here to stay

Inevitable setbacks to management of new materials have and will continue to occur

Need to press onward for economically and environmentally sustainable methods of disposal.

Bumpy Road

Speaking of New Initiatives!

The Recycling Association of Minnesota 2250 Wabash Ave., St. Paul, MN 55114

Brita Sailer, Executive Director 651-641-4560Brita@recycleminnesota.org

www.RecycleMinnesota.org