The market for silage covers and wrap has grown by almost 30% in the last number of years with farmers making more bales and moving away from silage pits.There was approximately 22,000t of wrap and cover sold last year, up from 17,000t six years ago, Liam Moloney, Irish Farm Film Producer Group (IFFPG) manager told the Irish Farmers Journal.
The market for silage covers and wrap has grown by almost 30% in the last number of years with farmers making more bales and moving away from silage pits.
There was approximately 22,000t of wrap and cover sold last year, up from 17,000t six years ago, Liam Moloney, Irish Farm Film Producer Group (IFFPG) manager told the Irish Farmers Journal.
The trend towards bales has been driven by the abolition of dairy quotas according to Moloney.
He said along with an increase in cow numbers, and therefore silage demand, improvements in grassland management meant more farmers were taking more surplus bales off paddocks.
“Bales is a more casual way of making silage whereas pit silage is a bigger commitment,” Moloney said.
In 2019, IFFPG recycled 29,000t of silage wrap and pit cover, the equivalent of 12 million bales. 1,000t of netting and 1,000t of fertiliser bags and agri-drums were also recycled.
China
The sector has faced a challenging few years after China shut its doors to imported waste in 2018. While Irish farm plastic was never sent to China, the flooding of the European market left IFFPG no choice but to increase farmer charges by €5 to €20 per half tonne delivered last year.
Moloney said: “We weren’t comfortable with that increase but it had to be done. Charges are being maintained for this year and if the market improves down the line we won’t hesitate to reduce charges to farmers.”
The sudden closure of the Chinese market led to a pileup of farm plastic in early 2019. Approximately 85% of this plastic will be collected ahead of the 2020 season and sufficient space will be available, Moloney said.
The annual volume of plastic is determined by the length of winter. Given the early onset of wet weather around the country, IFFPG expects a year of record collections.
Its collection centres will run from April until July.
The plastic is recycled into refuse sacks, construction film and piping.
Moloney said demand was growing for recycled products and work was underway to create a closed loop for farm plastics.
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