Dive Brief:
- A statewide pilot program is underway that would give Vermont farmers the option of recycling plastics used in farming instead of paying disposal fees to have the materials hauled away.
- Participants would drop off plastics at one of five designated locations throughout the state.
- Dairy farms in Vermont use 500 tons of plastics annually for wrapping hay bales and covering feed bunks.
Dive Insight:
The groups behind the program include the Vermont Agency of Agriculture/Cabot Creamery Cooperative and the waste management and recycling company, Casella Resource Solutions. They are working to determine what materials can be recycled and where they can be sent. The program may be expanded to include pots and trays used in gardening and tubing used in the production of maple syrup.
The program has echoes in a farming community in California that was encouraged to collect plastics to be recycled into reusable bags by Encore Recycling.
