• Q: What is The Agricultural Waste Plastics Collection & Recovery Programme?
• Q: Why has the Programme been started?
• Q: Who is running the Agricultural Waste Plastic Collection and Recovery Programme?

• Q: How do I find my nearest collection scheme?
• Q: How much will it cost to have my plastic waste collected?
• Q: What type of plastics can be collected/reprocessed?
• Q: What happens to the plastic I have had collected?

• Q: As a collector of farm plastics, will my business be affected by the recommendations for a collection system that are developed by the Programme?
• Q: As a farmer, what impact will this Programme have on me?
• Q: As a plastics reprocessor, what impact will this Programme have on my business?
• Q: How do I find an appropriate reprocessor?

• Q: What are the objectives of the trials?

• Q: What is Producer Responsibility (PR)?
• Q: What is BREW?
• Q: Why a landfill tax?

• Q: Why should I recycle my plastic?
• Q: How do I store my plastic? Does it have to be segregated?
• Q: What level of contamination is acceptable?

Q: What is The Agricultural Waste Plastics Collection & Recovery Programme?

A: In July 2005, the Secretary of State for the Environment awarded the Agricultural Waste Stakeholders’ Forum £1 million of BREW funding (derived from landfill tax) to develop a programme of work investigating how farm plastic waste can best be collected and recovered. This programme of work will feed into the development of a producer responsibility scheme for the collection and recovery of non-packaging farm plastics which is currently being developed by Government.

Q: Why has the Programme been started?

A: The Agricultural Waste Plastics Collection and Recovery Programme is a positive move to help farmers and collection companies adapt to new legislation regarding agricultural waste plastics. For more information please see the About the Programme and About agricultural waste plastics sections.

Q: What is Producer Responsibility (PR)?

A: 1. Producer Responsibility is a policy tool that is an extension of the “polluter pays” principle. It aims to make sure that businesses that put products on the market take responsibility for those products including when they reach the end of their life cycle and become waste.

2. The aim of the policy is to achieve a more sustainable approach to use of resources and to reduce the quantity of waste going to landfill by diverting ‘end of life' products for recycling or re-use.

Q: Why should I recycle my plastic?

A: 1. It is now illegal to bury or burn waste plastics.

2. The landfill option is getting more difficult and more costly, hence the need to reduce materials going to landfill. Landfill taxes are also increasing.

3. It takes less energy to recycle plastics than manufacture them from raw materials.

Q: How do I find my nearest collection scheme?

A: Agricultural waste plastic collection schemes for farmers are located all over the UK. To find your nearest collector simply use our online search facility which also searches the Environment Agency’s Recycling Directory www.wasterecycling.org.uk.

Q: How do I find an appropriate reprocessor?

A: Not all reprocessors accept agricultural waste plastics. A list of those that can is included in this website. Click here to find a suitable reprocessor.

Q: How much will it cost to have my plastic waste collected?

A: Prices vary per collector and quantity that you have to recycle. Please use our online search facility to locate your nearest collectors and contact them about costs.

Q: What type of plastics can be collected/reprocessed?

A: Different collectors accept different types of agricultural waste plastics, so use our online search facility to see which types your nearest collectors accept.

Q: How do I store my plastic? Does it have to be segregated?

A: Collectors have different expectations about how they receive waste plastics. Please use our online search facility to view their requirements. Later in the Programme you will also be able to view the Good Practice Guide

Q: What level of contamination is acceptable?

A: Contamination relates to the amount of soiling to plastic film or the amount of chemical left in a container. Different reprocessors are able to accept different levels of contamination. Chemical containers should be triple rinsed before collection.

Further information about reprocessors’ requirements is available within the online search facility.

Q: What happens to the plastic I have had collected?

A: Each collector will have their own method of handling waste plastic. In general it will be baled and sent to a reprocessor (recycling facility) in the UK or abroad, where it is washed to remove contamination and recycled into plastic pellets, flakes or granules. These in turn can be used to manufacture a wide range of plastic products, for example garden furniture.

Q: What is BREW?

A: BREW is the Business Resource Efficiency & Waste Programme. The development of this Programme, which started in April 2005, ensures that the additional Landfill Tax will not only provide incentives for businesses to reduce the amount of waste they send to landfill, but will also assist them in developing ways to achieve this by feeding the extra revenue generated through increases in landfill tax, back into projects designed to make business more efficient, reducing the volume of waste they send to landfill in the first place.

More information can be found at http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/waste/brew/background.htm

Q: Why a landfill tax?

A: Nationally we are generating some 400m tonnes of waste each year and this is growing by 3% each year. Industrial and commercial waste accounts for around 20% of total waste and over half of this goes to landfill. Neither landfilling nor incineration provides sustainable long-term solutions for dealing with the level of waste on this scale. Government introduced the Landfill Tax to stimulate reductions in the levels of business waste going to landfill. This complements the work of the Waste Implementation Programme in tackling municipal waste.

The Government is committed to increase the rate of Landfill Tax by £3 per annum. Landfill tax will therefore increase from £21 per tonne to £35 per tonne in the medium to long-term.

Q: Who is running in the Agricultural Waste Plastic Collection and Recovery Programme?

A: Following a competitive tender, CIWM (EB) has commissioned Valpak and ADAS to manage and carry out the Programme. This unique partnership brings Valpak's experience of producer responsibility alongside ADAS' knowledge, skills and expertise in farming systems and agricultural waste management.

Q: What are the objectives of the trials?

A: The programme proposes to identify best practice for collection logistics of agricultural waste plastics through the commissioning of pilot projects and demonstration activities. These aim to maximise the tonnage of waste plastics collected, taking account of reasonable cost and optimum recycling and recovery levels.

It should be emphasised that the programme can only fund a small number of trials, each carefully designed to meet specific objectives. The programme is not in a position to help fund new start-ups or otherwise provide subsidy to existing collection schemes. It is the intention, however, that efficient collectors should be able to operate successfully within the producer responsibility system that the Government is establishing. It is also expected that where possible, the trials should take full account of current and past activities in this area.

Q: As a collector of farm plastics, will my business be affected by the recommendations for a collection system that are developed by the programme?

A: One of the objectives of the Programme is to make recommendations on the most efficient way in which waste plastics can be collected for recovery from farms. This does not mean replacing current collection schemes with one national scheme. The recommendations from the Programme will be designed to encourage commercial collection operations. and any trials run in the course of the Programme will test ways in which schemes can be expanded or run more efficiently. A Good Practice Guide will be developed to share knowledge and sustainable practices amongst all farm plastics collectors. The Programme should help create an environment where the collection and recovery of farm plastics becomes a more sustainable and economic activity.

Q: As a farmer, what impact will this Programme have on me?

A: During the Programme, it may be that more farmers will be involved in collections of farm plastics as the trials are carried out. A Good Practice Guide will also provide farmers with useful information on the storage and collection of farm plastics. In the long term, the implementation of 'Producer Responsibility' legislation by Government should ensure that the manufacturers and importers of farm plastics will be responsible for the collection and recovery costs of waste farm plastics, not farmers.

Q: As a plastics reprocessor, what impact will this Programme have on my business?

A: No direct benefits can be guaranteed, but in the long term the implementation of a national system for the recovery of waste farm plastics should result in an increase in the supply of waste plastics available to be reprocessed. The dissemination of good practice information to collectors and farmers could also help reduce the contamination levels of the materials being supplied.