Farmlands Rotorua is supporting the push for sustainability and environmental best practice by hosting an Agrecovery Container collection site, with the added bonus of a $100 prezzy card up for grabs for those recycling in November.

Local farmers, growers, contractors and golf courses can make the most of this recycling programme at the Marguerita Street store which will accept plastic containers on Monday to Fridays, from 8am to 5pm.

Empty triple rinsed containers, up to and including 60 litres in size, from nearly 60 brand owners of agrichemical, biological, animal health and dairy hygiene products can be recycled for free.

As an added incentive, anyone recycling containers during November will go in the draw to win a $100 prezzy card from Agrecovery.

The Agrecovery container recycling programme is well used in the Bay of Plenty, with the region coming sixth on the 2012-2013 results table with nearly 13,000 kg of container plastic recycled in that financial year. The Rotorua collection site will be the fifth Agrecovery site in the region, with others located in Katikati, Te Puke, Edgecumbe and Opotiki. There is also a site at Farmlands Taupo, with a total of 70 sites nationwide.

Farmlands have been very supportive of the rural recycling programme since it started in 2007, stocking wrap recycling bags in store and helping promote the programmes, as well as now hosting 11 Agrecovery collection sites in the North Island.

Geoff Taylor, General Manager of Operations for Farmlands, is pleased to increase support for Agrecovery with more and more farmers and growers getting involved with the programme which saw a 30% jump in members in the last financial year (compared to previous 12 months).

“I’m a grower myself and I know that sustainable disposal of ‘farm’ waste is becoming a major issue. It’s good to be able to offer this valuable service through our stores, both to our shareholders and the wider rural community.”

The collected containers are shredded by a mobile processing truck and processed in Auckland or Christchurch, with one of the common uses for the recycled plastic being an underground cable cover.

In their 2012/2013 financial year Agrecovery collected 182,331 kg of container plastic, enough to make a 15cm wide cable cover reaching from Auckland to Invercargill and back.

To be eligible for recycling containers must be empty, triple rinsed and free from residue inside and out. All containers will be inspected before being accepted. Only containers belonging to the participating brand owners are free to recycle. For a list of other collection sites in the region click here.