The Irish Farm Film Producers Group (IFFPG) has confirmed to Agriland the charges that farmers will have to pay for recycling farm plastic in 2025.
The minimum charge at IFFPG bring centres this year will be €60 per half tonne, with every half tonne thereafter being charged at €60.
This marks an increase of €10 when compared with the minimum charge of €50 per half tonne at bring centres in 2024. In 2023, the minimum charge stood at €35 per half tonne.
In the event that a farmer decides to opt for on-farm collection, the minimum call out charge this year will be €120 for the first half tonne, which IFFPG said is the same amount as 2024.
The charge for the first tonne collected at the farmyard is €200 and €200 per tonne thereafter.
IFFPG noted that the average volume made available for collection by farmers is typically 750-800kg.
The company also confirmed that the recycling levy, which is charged to companies who place farm plastics products on the Irish market, will remain unchanged this year at €286/t.
Under the scheme, producers pay the environmental protection levy to IFFPG based on the quantity of product they place on the market.
Plastic
IFFPG is the national, not-for-profit recycling compliance scheme to protect Ireland’s rural environment.
The scheme is funded through a combination of the recycling levy, which makes up the majority of funding, and collection charges.
Liam Moloney, IFFPG general manager, told Agriland that the cost of running the scheme was approximately €8 million in 2023, with a figure of €9 million likely to be recorded for last year.
“IFFPG collected 39,000 tonnes of material in 2023, with a figure of 42,000 tonnes likely to be recorded for 2024 due to long preceding winter, which equates to a 95%+ collections level,” he said.
All plastic collected by IFFPG is done so through a network of approved contractors, who will apply the revised rates.
A national contractor process is currently underway, with contracts likely to be offered to successful candidates by the end of quarter 1 (Q1) 2025.
IFFPG said that storage capacity issues at some contractors’ yards have been dealt with by contractors going through the planning and permit review processes to significantly increase storage capacity.
“For its part, IFFPG sent a record 40,000 tonnes of material for recycling in 2024, with almost half going to Irish recyclers,” Moloney said.
IFFPG expects to restore its financial reserve to €3 million by the end of 2025.
“The reserve was depleted somewhat in recent years due to collecting and recycling record volumes of waste at a time of escalating recycling costs, due to global events such as Covid and the war in Ukraine,” Moloney said.