Tama has been producing baler twine for over 90 years and while making such a basic product might not, at first appearances, seem the most dynamic enterprise, the company has recently taken a large step forward in recycling farm plastics.
In launching the product Tama notes that when farm plastics are recycled, they are often into end-of-life products, such as fence posts, which cannot be further processed.
This is not the case with the new twine.
Polymer regeneration
In what is claimed as a unique development, the Tama Group has formed a partnership with Netherlands-based company Healix.
Used twine and netwrap are regenerated back into high-grade polypropylene and polyethylene polymers which can then be re-used in the manufacture of new products.
Taking old and used twine and re-generating it directly back to new is a large step forward and goes someway to answering the question as to what actually happens to waste farm plastic.
However, the new twine, known as TamaCycle Twine, does not consist purely of recycled polymers, the company saying only that it is used in the production of the new product, thus reducing the need for virgin material.
Tama field tests
The new twine has undergone extensive field trials in almost all major baling regions worldwide.
These in-field trials have, the company claims, proved its suitability for baling in all conditions and environments.
Testing the new product on the farm has confirmed the company’s laboratory-based expectations in that the baler twine matches the high strength and knotting performance of Tama’s existing products.
Tama noted that using regenerated polymers in its twine creates a new market segment, bringing with it a new and distinctive colour for the material, clearly identifying it and showing it to include recycled plastics.
While recycling farm plastics has, up until now, been an exercise in cleaning them down and remoulding them into a new form, this development appears to take the concept to the next stage by actually breaking down and regenerating the feed stock to create a raw material for integration into existing twines.