International demonstration of farm waste recycling
Over 40 former young farmers from as far afield as Australia, the United States and Canada have been given a unique insight into the farm waste polythene recycling capabilities of bpi.recycled products. The group recently visited the business’ Rhymney, South Wales plant as part of the 55th annual IFYE (International Farm Youth Exchange) European Conference.
During their visit, the group were able to see first-hand how bpi.recycled products takes almost 100,000 tonnes of waste polythene each year - including materials like polytunnels, silage balewrap and silage clamp sheet - and gives it a new lease of life as products including building films, landscaping materials and refuse sacks.
They were also able to see the significant investments bpi.recycled products has made as a specialist recycler for the agricultural industry. This includes the recent £4.5M investment made by the business into an agricultural waste wash plant at Rhymney which is enabling the business to recycle more heavily contaminated levels of waste than previously possible.
Commenting, bpi.recycled products’ environment and materials director, Sian Miles – who has strong connections to the agricultural industry coming from a farming family – said: “It was a real pleasure to host the visit by the former young farmers involved in the 55th IFYE European Conference and especially as a former young farmer myself. Most of the group had never seen farm waste polythene being recycled before and were more familiar with less sustainable methods of disposal such as landfilling or burning.
“As such, they were both surprised and impressed by the variety and volume of material recycled here in the UK. As a nation, we are actually amongst the leaders in this field and thanks to businesses like bpi.recycled products, there is still capacity to recycle more of the UK’s waste farm polythene every year.”
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Images & captions: BPI farm waste recycling.jpg: A leader in the field. bpi.recycled products has demonstrated its expertise in recycling agricultural waste polythene during a recent visit by delegates from the 55th IFYE European Conference.
For more information on this story, contact Rachael Barton on 01773 530 530 or email: RachaelBarton@bpipoly.com
Editor’s notes:
- bpi.recycled products is the largest recycler of used polythene in Europe recycling over 95,000 tonnes of post-use polythene material from horticultural, commercial, retail, industrial and agricultural markets.
- bpi.recycled products uses some of these materials to manufacture its award winning Plaswood range of sustainable wood-substitute products. These products include park and garden furniture, street and countryside signs, bollards and marine decking.
- The environmental benefits of recycling plastic are becoming more widely recognised: maximising reusable material, diverting waste from landfill and conserving resources. bpi.recycled products has developed the necessary expertise and the infrastructure in the form of a network of Environment Agency accredited recycling plants to help drive these benefits forward.
- bpi.recycled products is a division of BPI (British Polythene Industries) plc, one of Europe’s largest manufacturers of polythene films, bags and sacks.
- As a result of its commitment to operating in a sustainable way and to minimising the environmental impact of all of its activities, BPI won the Best Green Large Company category at the 2010 Scottish Green Awards.
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