(Alice McFarlane/farmnewsNOW Staff)

By Alice McFarlane

Recycling

New environmental handling fee to come into effect for grain bags

Mar 27, 2019 | 4:38 PM

Saskatchewan farmers who use grain bags for storage will see a a new fee on their bills.

Last November the new province-wide grain bag recycling program environment handling fee (EHF) came into effect.

The non-refundable EHF of 25 cents per kilogram will be added to the price of the bag based on weight and size. For example, this works out to $37 on a 9 x 250 foot bag.

“They’re a great tool for use on the farm,” Tammy Shields, the western coordinator for CleanFarms said. “We’re looking forward to working with more and more producers to create efficiencies in the recycling program in Saskatchewan and recycle more grain bags. The more we can recycle, the more efficient and effective this program can be.”

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Roughly 15,000 grain bags are used in Saskatchewan every year. Shields said the collection rate last year was about 55 per cent.

“We want all of it. If you need a solution on farm, off farm, if you have just one or two bags I can help provide on farm solutions.” Shields said.

The government-funded six-year pilot recycled more than 3,600 tonnes of grain bags.

The purpose is to offer farmers an option for returning single-use, large, heavy bags for recycling. End markets in North America and Malaysia shred, wash and pelletize the plastic and sell it to manufacturers who make products like plastic garbage bags.

The EHF will be used to cover the cost of collecting the bags at designated collection sites, transporting them to end markets and administration.

There are roughly 20 collection sites throughout the province with more collection locations to be added.

“This has fostered a lot of entrepreneurship in Saskatchewan,” Shields said. “There’s about five different organizations including educational institutions that are looking at recycling grain bags and providing a local solution.”

There could be more items added to the list for agricultural recycling.

“The number one question I get is ‘What do i do with twine?’ Manitoba and Alberta are online with grain bag and twine recycling and I’m sure Saskatchewan will be a close second coming into this program,” she said.

Rolled grain bags will now be accepted, free of charge, at collection sites across the province. A map of collection sites can be found at www.cleanfarms.ca.

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alice.mcfarlane@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @Alice McF