NFU cumbria calls for plastic manufacturers to pay recycling costs - not farmers

NFU CUMBRIA County Chairman, Alistair Mackintosh, will urge the Government to place the onus of recycling waste farm plastic onto the manufacturers and not Cumbrian farmers.

Mr Mackintosh believes that manufacturers would then increase their prices. However, competition between manufacturers would limit that increase in price and farmers would then be given a choice of who they bought it from and how much they bought.

This would be far more beneficial than an additional cost being forced on farmers which they have no control over and no means of recouping from the market insisted Mr Mackintosh.

"In June or July, legislation will come into affect which will ban the burning or burying of farm waste plastic," said Mr Mackintosh.

"This will mean the total cost will then be transferred onto the farmers for disposal. A more acceptable solution would be to have the manufacturers of the plastic responsible for the cost of disposal. They would obviously increase the price to farmers but at least then farmers would be able to choose whether or not they bought it and if so then who from.

"We in Cumbria have in the past been fortunate enough to have had a heavily subsidised collection scheme. Farm plastic has been removed and reprocessed into items of use. However, because of this legal obligation, which will force farmers to dispose of farm waste plastic in approved sites, the funders feel the need no longer to subsidise the collection.

"Costs for disposal have been estimated at approximately £150 per tonne. An extra burden on farm incomes that I find intolerable.

"More costs onto farm incomes without being able to recoup from the market, I feel must be resisted. My income is beginning to resemble a hog roast at a barbecue."

Alistair will raise this issue at NFU Council next week because he does not want to see the good work achieved under the Cumbria Farm Plastic Recycling Scheme (CFPRS) going to waste.

CFPRS have to date collected and recycled more than 2,000 tonnes of waste farm plastic since December 2000.

Farmers in Cumbria have had the benefit of a heavily subsidised recycling facility for farm plastic, as a result of funding, which means that farmers have had the benefit of paying only 20 per cent of the actual collection and recycling cost.

In light of the new regulations, CFPRS are unable to obtain further funding which would have subsidised future collections. CFPRS is a voluntary, not for profit scheme established by representatives from organisations such as the NFU, Lake District National Park Authority, the National Trust, FWAG, and the Environment Agency.

Farmers using similar schemes nationally have been less fortunate than in Cumbria, whereby the cost for recycling waste plastic has been in excess of £80 per tonne from the outset.

Alison Hargreaves from CFPRS, said: "Putting the onus on the manufacturers is the most effective way forward although this must be underpinned with legislation so that foreign companies can not come into this country and take advantage. They would also have to be charged a recycling levy by our government in order to make the system fair.

"There also has to be an incentive for farmers to store plastic efficiently so as to minimise the collection and recycling costs and maximise the recycling outlets. Clean plastic has much more outlets and value and incurs much less recycling and collection costs."