Ireland is on track to recycle a record amount of farm plastic for 2024, while also maintaining an almost 100% recycle rate.

Responding to questions from the Irish Farmers Journal, the Irish Farm Film Producers Group (IFFG) said, to date, it has collected around 28,000t of plastic farm waste, which could reach upwards of 43,000t by the end of the year.

This is a jump on last year’s figure of 38,000t which had a recycling rate of 95%.

Costs

Looking to 2025, IFFPG is hopeful it will be able to maintain its current cost for collection but a decision will be made after a financial review at year’s end.

Liam Maloney, IFFPG chief executive, said farmers are more conscious of recycling their waste properly.

“They’re doing it mainly because of practical reasons; they need a solution for all the waste that they are generating, but they also want to do their bit for the environment.”

The IFFPG attributes this year’s increase to the longer winter period, with farmers going through more bales of silage compared to other years. due to the inclement weather.

Around 90% of the waste collected is silage wrap and silage pit covers. The group also collects netting and twine waste, as well as fertiliser bags and agri-chemical drums through another company.

Irish recyclers

Currently, only 40% of waste collected by IFFPG is sent to Irish recyclers while the rest is sent to companies in Europe.

“We’d like to see a situation in a few years where everything goes to Irish recyclers for obvious reasons but we are seeing a lot of progress in that,” added Maloney.