Silage Wrap and Bulka Bag Recycling Pilot

The Regional Circularity Co-operative and Bega Group are collaborating with RCC member Pact Group and Agsafe to explore avenues to deal with the problem of single use silage wrap, bulka bags and, of course, agricultural chemical drums. In June, we did a trial baling exercise with the Pact Group drumMUSTER truck at the Merimbula transfer station. This was a first step to see if existing baling machinery (used primarily for drums) could be utilised to effectively and efficiently bale silage wrap and bulka bags to enable transport to a central location for recycling.

Key outcomes:

• The good news is that the baler worked very well.
• We baled approximately seven bulka bags of silage wrap and that produced a 300kg bale, which was only about half what a bale could be if we provided more wrap
• We baled approximately ten bulka bags of bulka bags and that produced a 350kg bale which, again, was only about half what a bale could be if we provided more bags.
• Every farmer we spoke with was very keen of establishment of a program to deal with these problem materials in a more circular fashion.
• Watch this space….

For more information on the bagMUSTER program, go to https://www.bagmuster.org.au/
For more information on the drumMUSTER program, go to https://www.drummuster.org.au/