Alberta government injects $750K into agricultural waste recycling pilot

A new pilot program launched by the province is looking at recycling agricultural plastics that would otherwise go up in flames or sit in a landfill.

Alberta's agriculture and forestry minister, Oneil Carlier, said the three-year program will help the province come up with the best ways to recycle waste like grain bags and twine.

"We've been hearing from the beginning of our term —and I suspect previous governments as well — [from] farmers [who] have been good stewards of their land, have been for generations," he said.

"They wanna do their part to reduce waste, reduce pollution, reduce greenhouse gas emissions. So here's an opportunity … to see what exactly we can do on that."

Carlier said the current practice for many farmers is to burn waste on their farms or send it to landfill.

The $750,000 grant will be managed by Alberta Beef Producers, who will coordinate the recycling programs on behalf of the Agricultural Plastics Recycling Group (APRG).

In a release, the APRG said they welcome the province's commitment to the program.

"The APRG will explore an on-the-ground assessment of [agricultural] plastics on the provincial landscape to support the environmentally sound end use of these materials," said APRG chairman, Al Kemmere.

Carlier said the project will determine the financials, logistics and operations of recycling agricultural plastics, which will likely inform future policy to address the problem.