Our container programme provides a sustainable way to dispose of used agrichemical containers, which are then recycled into fully-compliant products right here in New Zealand.
Long-time recycling partner, Astron Plastics in Auckland, converts all of our triple-rinsed containers into underground cable cover or building materials. The majority is made into covers for cables and pipes – for electricity and gas. The rest is made into damp course – used to prevent damp rising in buildings.
Astron Plastics Manager Steve Mead says “there is ongoing demand for these finished products” and is enthusiastic about being associated with the Agrecovery programme because “it has really sound environmental credentials and benefits”.
The plastic is collected from over 90 sites and large-scale farms across the country and sent to Astron Plastics, where it is washed and converted into a raw material that is used to manufacture the end products.
If we didn’t have programmes like this, he says, farmers would still be burning and burying. Mead sees the mutual benefit of the ongoing partnership with Agrecovery and is eager to sustain it.
The plastic we collect is a small proportion of what Astron processes at its Auckland-based factory. It collects close to 300 tonnes of plastic a week from a range of industries. It’s also involved in other stewardship programmes for silage wrap, paint packaging and car seats.
For farmers, who face an ever-increasing demand from consumers for sustainably grown produce, we can provide an auditable trail of evidence of best agricultural practice to the end of a product’s life.