Recycle South general manager Hamish McMurdo, speaking at a Southern Dairy Hub field day in Wallacetown recently, described how he would like farmers to present bale wrap to make the recycling of it easier.
His business was recycling bale wrap from farms in Southland and Otago and he had capacity to process about 250 tonnes of bale wrap a week.
Bale wrap was sorted by five staff before it was shredded and made into pallets.
Ideally the wrap would be as clean as possible, free of elastic netting, silage tape, metal and stones and clumps of dirt.
"When you are recycling plastic it’s all about purity."
He would like farmers to buy bale wrap in the same colour, ideally green or a lighter colour.
"If you have one bulk colour it would make our life a whole lot easier."
Hub general manager Louise Cook asked if farmers would get a discount if they provided bale wrap in a state for Recycle South to gain best value, such as providing clean wrap and sorted in colours.
Mr McMurdo said it charged $150 plus GST to recycle a tonne of bale wrap, about 15c a bale.
He was working with Agrecovery to launch a "stewardship scheme" so there would be no charge for farmers to bring bale wrap in.
A farmer asked Mr McMurdo if he was advocating for the Government to allow only one colour of bale wrap to be available.
"Absolutely, clear would be the best colour," Mr McMurdo, of Centre Bush, said.
