New YFC campaign encourages farmers to recycle more waste

A new campaign has launched today encouraging young farmers to recycle more of their farm waste, such as plastic and cardboard.

YFCs are being asked to partner with local recycling companies to set up a scheme that incentivises farmers to recycle more of waste.

Since 2006, waste regulations banned the burning or burying of farm waste, meaning farmers must now send waste to recycling or a landfill site.

The National Federation of Young Farmers’ Clubs (NFYFC) said the scheme's aim was for young farmers to offer to remove the waste from local farms and deliver to the recycling centre in return for a donation.

Farmers could also deliver their own waste through the scheme to trigger the donation to the YFC, the organisation said today as National Young Farmers' Week gets underway.

The YFC Recycle Challenge has been inspired by an initiative between the Essex Federation of Young Farmers’ Clubs and CSH Environmental – a recycling centre near Colchester.

The partnership has resulted in more than 94 tonnes of waste being recycled from farms across Essex and has raised more than £12,000 for YFCs in the county during its first year.

Oliver Weavers, who started the scheme during his year as county chair for Essex, said the recycling scheme had been a big success in our county.

"We wanted more Young Farmers’ Clubs to benefit from a similar arrangement," he explained.

"This has given our members new skills, made them more aware of the importance of recycling and most importantly engaged farmers in recycling their waste more often.

“Most farmers have a connection to YFC and are willing to give back to the organisation and this is a really simple way to do it."

Inspired by the recycling scheme, the Essex Federation also produced re-useable plastic drinking cups for their county show this year, made using the recycled plastic they had delivered to CSH.

This initiative significantly reduced the amount of single-use plastic needing to be cleared the morning after the show.

NFYFC has worked with Essex to develop a toolkit for YFCs to help them set up a similar scheme in their own county, to encourage more farmers to recycle more.

The recycling scheme is one part of NFYFC’s National Young Farmers’ Week activities, which this year has a theme of Sustainable Futures.

The organisation has also released a report focused on sharing positive ways young farmers can overcome barriers to entry and how they can manage environmental challenges.