A rural recycling company says a crackdown by China on some of the plastics it's accepting for reprocessing hasn't disrupted its collection from farms.
China launched Operation Green Fence in February with the aim of stopping rubbish entering the country in recycling shipments. It now refuses to take some types of plastic, so local bodies have had to either restrict the types they'll accept for recycling or dump or stockpile some of what they collect - in particular, plastics graded 3 to 7 grade that aren't processed in this country.
China has been the main market for used plastics, including silage wrap, which is being collected in growing quantities from farms.
Rural recycling companies took record amounts of plastic waste from farms and orchards last year. One company, Plasback, collected nearly 870 tonnes of agricultural plastic in the past year, mostly silage wrap, which was being sent to China.
However, manager Chris Hartshorne says it has other markets. He says part of his company's skill set is using contacts to make sure they can always find a home for such material, and markets in other parts of Asia are happy to take these grades of plastic.
