Plastics recyclers form agricultural expert group

EU27 – The European Association of Plastics Recycling and Recovery Organisations (EPRO) has brought together several national bodies that are responsible for agriculture recycling schemes to form the EPRO Agricultural-Plastics group.

Participants from eight countries presented their various recycling initiatives at the group’s first meeting in March, discussing current figures, financing mechanisms and routes towards improving future recycling rates.

The EU agricultural sector generates 274,000 tonnes of plastics waste per year, including 88,000 tonnes of film waste. That latter figure increases to 250,000 when soilage (contamination with soil, grass or stones) is taken into account. Agricultural film waste has proven difficult to recycle commercially due to the high levels of contamination and its wide geographical dispersion, which means high transport costs.

EPRO Agricultural-Plastics agreed a series of objectives for the expert group it has formed, including internal and external networking, development of reliable statistics, exchange of best practice in the operation of existing schemes, and establishing a framework to discuss issues such as legislation, financing and exports.