The Irish Farm Film Producers Group (IFFPG) has confirmed that farmers will be facing higher charges for recycling plastic this year.
The minimum charge at IFFPG bring centres this year will be €50 per half tonne, with every half tonne thereafter charged at €50.
This marks an increase of €15 when compared with the minimum charge of €35 per half tonne at bring centres in 2023.
If a farmer chooses to opt for on-farm collection, the minimum call out charge this year will be €100, which is significantly up from €60 in 2023.
IFFPG said that this will cover the cost of recycling a half tonne of farm plastics waste or the plastic from approximately 250 bales.
The cost for every half tonne thereafter presented for recycling through collection on farms will be €100.
IFFPG also confirmed that the recycling levy, which is charged to companies who place farm plastics products on the Irish market, has been increased from €240 to €286/t this year.
Liam Moloney, IFFPG general manager, told Agriland that the recycling levy has increased a number of times in recent years due to “ever increasing volumes of farm plastics waste at a time of escalating recycling costs due to global events”.
Plastic recycling
During the last six years, the volume of farm plastics waste recycled has increased by 50% to the current 39,000t per annum.
This represents a recycling rate of over 90% and is the equivalent to plastic from 20 million silage bales. The government’s recycling target is 70%.
“At the same time, global events such as the decision by the Chinese to ban plastic waste imports, Covid and more recently the war in Ukraine have increased the cost of recycling by 600%.
“This combination of circumstances has necessitated increases in the recycling levy in recent years,” Moloney said.
He added that while IFFPG regrets the recent increase in the recycling levy, it considers it necessary and believes that the impact on recycling levels will be minimal.
“For most Irish farmers, farm plastics recycling has become a mainstream activity that they engage in routinely, with 90% choosing their local bring-centre as the most convenient and cost effective means of managing this waste stream,” he said.
IFFPG is the national, not-for-profit recycling compliance scheme to protect Ireland’s rural environment.
The scheme is 70% funded through the recycling levy charged to companies placing plastics products on the market, and 30% through a weight-based collection charge to farmers.
All plastic collected by IFFPG is done so through a network of four approved contractors, who will apply the revised rates.
IFFPG will hold its next national contractor tendering process at the end of this year, which will see successful applicants contracted to the scheme for the next five years.
The vast majority of waste is collected from early summer to autumn, the waste is then supplied to recyclers during from autumn to early summer of the following year.
Stockpiling
Last year, the Irish Rural Association called for a full investigation into the farm plastic industry in Ireland after having discovered a “serious amount of stockpiling” in contractors’ yards.
The matter was also discussed by members of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
When asked by Agriland if IFFPG has now addressed the concerns raised, Liam Moloney said that “as the scheme has collected more material, it has been necessary to source additional recycling capacity”.
Currently a third of all waste collected is supplied to two Irish recyclers: Enva, Carrickmacross, Co. Monaghan and Sabrina, Littleton, Co. Tipperary.
IFFPG exports the remaining waste under strict legislation to recyclers in Europe.
“IFFPG is currently engaging with both recyclers and manufacturers in Ireland with a view to developing closed loop recycling.
“The objective is for Irish recyclers to produce output of sufficient quality to be used in new silage wrap products at a 30% level.
“It is considered that such a development which would have significant circular economy and economic benefits to the farm plastics sector,” Moloney said.