Agricultural Plastics Recycling ! North Carolina! NC Nurserymen & Landscape Association! ! ! NC Dept Agriculture and Consumer Services! ! ! NC Division of Environmental Assistance and Customer Service! ! ! Waste Reduction Partners! Agricultural plastics in NC ! LDPE #4 #2 PE #5 PP (#6 PS flats) Ag Plastics – annual consumption in NC www.nass.usda.gov! Overwintering Film 500 tons each April! !4ml LDPE! ! ! Pots and flats 6000 tons/year! #2 Polyethylene! #5 Polypropylene! #6 Polystyrene! ! Black Mulch Film 2,800 tons/year! !LDPE! ! ! Drip Tape 1,300 tons/year! Growers in NC Learned about the growers needs Emails, Phone calls, Site visits, Trade Shows! Learned from the recyclers Emails, Phone calls, Site visits, Trade Shows ! Agricultural Plastics Recyclers in NC! Agricultural Plastics Recycling Flyer! Adding information to web-sites! www.wastereductionpartners.org! Overwintering Films (LDPE) ~500 tons/year! • Clean, have minimal contact with ground ! • Cut off bottom dirty part! • No staples, stones, contaminants! • Exposed to minimal sun (Oct – April)! Overwintering film - challenges! • Pulled off when growers are very busy making sales • Last spring finding a dry day • All comes off at the same Jme – when the hot weather arrives • Who knows when the sun will shine! • Nurserymen do not have balers Smaller growers • Do not have truckload quanJJes • Small market on Craigs list • Find a lot of reuse opportuniJes Overwintering film – success stories April 2013! Cam Too – 200 houses (100’ x40’) 150 pounds each Put it into his own truck & drove it to the recycler – he wanted it out of the way fast before the wind blew! Hefner’s Nursery – 12 houses (100’ x 40’) Stored it under cover un:l he was sure he did not have to put it up again, then drove it to a nearby recycler Nursery Containers (pots, cell packs & flats) ~6000 tons/year! • #2 Polyethylene – ! blow molded nursery containers, usually 1 gallon to 65 gallon, ! usually black in color! #5 Polypropylene – ! Injection molded grower pots, often two-color extruded pots, ! hanging baskets, flats and hard plug trays! #6 Polystyrene – ! Thermoformed cell packs, carry trays, plug trays, specialty packs ! and propagation sheets! Nursery containers - Challenges! Shake Sort Stack Full loads Wrap! Plantworks Nursery, Rougemont! Doug Chapman and Dana Massey! Mellow Marsh Farm, Siler City From pot back to pot is happening in NC! Drip Tape ~1300 tons/year Black mulch film ~2800 tons/year! • LLDPE in contact with the ground! • Pulled up in the winter months! • Growers prefer to pull up the film and drip tape together! • These growers often have old tobacco bailers ! • Generally these growers do not expect payment for the material! • Seems to be easier to get truck load quantities! Agricultural plasJcs recycled May 2012 -‐ now 634 tons! Diverted from landfills $26,632! Savings in Jpping fees NC growers want to recycle more agricultural plasJcs • Growers hate taking their plasJcs to landfill • Growers want a greener image for their business • Large producers have truck load quanJJes and are geZng on board • Growers are beginning to work together to get truck load quanJJes What does the program need to expand to all growers? More consolidaJon sites • Some Nursery AssociaJons are working together • Some nurseries are trying to backhaul to their nursery and set up a collecJon site More backhauling opportuniJes More recyclers, parJcularly in the West and coastal regions The agricultural plasJcs recycling team Ross Williams NCNLA Terry Albrecht WRP John Hammond DACS Jamie Ragan DEACS Jan Foster WRP Tom Rhodes DEACS Sco] Mouw DEACS Conrad Meyer WRP WRP Current Funding Partners! NC Department of Environmental Assistance and Outreach / NC DENR State Energy Office / NCDOC USDA Rural U:lity Service US EPA Cherokee Preserva:on Founda:on City of Asheville – Water Resources Progress Energy Carolinas Town of Boone Private Contribu:ons
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