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The Irish Farm Film Producers Group (IFFPG) and ERP Ireland, who operate national compliance schemes for farm plastics and WEEE/waste batteries, respectively, have come together, as part of a pilot scheme, to organise an extensive network of temporary bring collection sites throughout the County during May.
The initiative is focused on farmers who are being provided with a facility, at designated collection points across Clare, to deposit their household waste electrical and electronic equipment and waste batteries, at the same time as they deposit their waste farm plastics. Household WEEE includes large household appliances such as fridges and washing machines, as well as TVs, small electrical goods and fluorescent bulbs.
As the winter fodder season ends, significant quantities of waste farm plastics have built up on farms throughout the County. The waste farm plastics include silage bale wraps; silage pit covers; bale netting and twines; plastic packaging for fertiliser and meal ration; and agricultural chemical containers.
According to recent records, approximately 1,300 tonnes of waste farm plastics has been collected annually by authorised waste collectors in Clare through temporary collection bring centres and on-farm collections. To put this in context, the amount of waste farm plastics collected and recycled each year is equivalent to 650,000 silage bale wraps.
Clare is one of the top-performing counties when it comes to the recycling of WEEE and waste batteries. Nearly 800 tonnes of WEEE was collected for recycling in Clare alone in 2012, equating to almost 7kg of WEEE for every person in the County.
Commenting on the supply of farm plastics, Mayor of Clare, Councillor Pat Daly, stated: "It is important farmers support the farm plastics compliance system because a failure to pay the appropriate recycling levy on farm plastic purchased will result in a reduction in funding to the collection scheme and increased costs to farmers when seeking to dispose of waste farm plastics following the winter fodder season."
(CD)
