Recycling farm plastics a win-win

Date: 26 Jun 2025

Category: News | Environment | Land Use | Waste Management | Farming

Farmers are increasingly doing the right thing when it comes to disposing of bale wrap and other farm plastics.

Plasback commercial manager Neal Shaw estimates there’s been more than a 50 per cent increase in the amount of bale wrap recycled in Canterbury since 2021. However, there is room for improvement, with our resource management officers still seeing instances of people burning plastics.

Burning farm plastics still an issue

Bale wrap, plastic chairs, even the odd tyre and 44-gallon drum, have been spotted by our staff investigating burn piles.

Open burning or burying of farm plastics can release air pollutants and hazardous by-products including heavy metals and dioxins.

This can affect the health of you and your family and can contaminate soil, waterways or food sources.

Resource management officer Garry Husband says bad burning is easy to spot.

“You can tell by the colour of the smoke – it's often black. If our staff see or hear about smoke like this, we’ll head out and investigate.”

Keep your pits free of contaminants

Garry’s also seen some concerning items in pits on farms.

“This year, while conducting compliance visits, we’ve been checking rubbish and offal pits. We’ve found quite a few things that shouldn’t be in there.”

Improper use of pits can lead to potentially harmful contaminants leaching into the ground, which could also impact the safety of bore water.

“Depending on what we find, the person responsible could face a variety of penalties – including prosecution.”

How to recycle farm plastics

Recycling is a much safer approach. On-farm collection of plastics is available through Plasback and Agrecovery will do on-farm collections for large items or large quantities of containers.

How to recycle farm plastics in Waitaha

You can recycle farm plastics via Plasback and Agrecovery. They recycle many farm plastics, including:

plastic containers and drums
seed and fertiliser bags
bailing twine.

Important: Make sure you follow any recycling instructions like rinsing and removing labels.

What happens to recycled plastics?

Collected plastic is made into reusable products such as:

underground cable covers
building materials.

For non-recyclable farm plastics, take them to your local refuse transfer station—don’t burn or bury. While farm pits are a permitted activity if conditions are met, we want you to be aware of the available alternatives, as this may prevent problems on the farm later.

Liners and bins can be ordered online from Plasback or from local rural supply stores.

They also offer free or subsidised disposal of unwanted agrichemicals.

Nationwide increase in plastic recycling

Plasback contractor Matt Anderson picks up wrap from properties in the Kaikōura area and says collections have stayed strong in the past 12 months.

“Almost every dairy farmer in our area is on board, and we have noticed more sheep and beef farmers are recycling more as well. There are very few in this part of Canterbury who don’t get their wrap collected and recycled.”

Neal Shaw says the increase in farm material recycling across Canterbury reflects a nationwide trend:

2021: 2600 tonnes
2022: 5500 tonnes
2023: 6200 tonnes
2024: 7000 tonnes

The bulk of this recycled material is silage and bale wrap.

He believes the Co-operative Difference programme introduced by Fonterra to reward sustainable farming practices was a catalyst for change in the dairy sector, encouraging increased bale wrap recycling.

“It’s given some farmers the push they needed to break bad habits and helped them realise the all-round benefits of doing the right thing.

“Plasback has recently developed a large purpose-built baler in Christchurch that can produce up to 15 bales an hour, compared to only 2 an hour in the existing network. This was necessary due to the increase in bale wrap being recycled, so that’s a really positive result.” However, he feels there is still a way to go.

New rules could improve farm plastic recycling

On 1 June, consultation closed on proposed regulations to improve the management of farm plastic waste. Neal hopes the new regulations will mandate suppliers to take responsibility for the entire product lifecycle, from design to disposal.

“Currently, those who are interested in recycling are doing it, but there’s a financial burden for those farmers doing the right thing. The model needs to change so that suppliers are contributing, too.”

He points out that education is still important.

“Only about half the plastic silage wrap used by farmers each year (nationwide) is recovered and recycled – that means the other half is still being burned or buried, so there’s still plenty more to do in this space.”