Farmers use more than 100 tonnes of plastic on their fields every year and that was why WasteServ was starting a pilot project to collect this plastic and recycle it, Environment Minister George Pullicino said yesterday.

Launching this pilot project, Mr Pullicino said the Mgarr farmers were already collecting this plastic in recent years but now it was being made more official. He said the 100 tonnes of plastic used by farmers in a year was reason enough to ensure that this plastic is recycled and used for other products, such as plastic pipes. He said the pilot project was being coordinated by WasteServ through the collaboration of the Mgarr, St Paul’s Bay and Mellieha local councils.

He explained that farmers could, on a voluntary basis, deposit their used plastic in a container brought purposely to collect the use plastic. The used plastic will be exported by C&V Polymers to a foreign company which would clean the used plastic and prepare it for the recycling process.

Mr Pullicino said the objectives of the pilot project are to facilitate the collection of plastic used in the agricultural sector and avoid plastic accumulating on rubble walls or else, as is the case in some cases, burnt along with dried grass. He said the idea is to encourage the better management of plastic in the agricultural sector and raise awareness on the importance of recycling different kinds of waste.

Minister Pullicino said that until a similar scheme is available in other localities, Gozitan farmers will be able to dispose of their plastic at the waste transfer facility at Tal-Qortin. Farmers working in the southern part of the island can dispose of their plastic waste at the Sant’Antnin waste treatment facility.

He said there are three main types of plastic being used by the agricultural sector. These include mulching film, which is a black type of plastic with holes which allows the plant to grow and destroys wild plants. Another type of plastic is solarisation film, a transparent plastic which is used to cover the plants while at the same time sterilising the soil. The third type of plastic is the one used to make small tunnels for the cultivation of strawberries and plants in greenhouses. If the plastic used in the agricultural sector is collected and exported it can be recycled to make pipes for irrigation systems, he said.

WasteServ’s head of strategy engineer said that through this initiative farmers can dispose of all types of plastic as long as it is not contaminated with too much soil and other materials such as wood, iron and glass.

C&V Polymers Ltd director Charles Brincat explained that the company will collect the plastic, send it to plants in Italy, Germany, England and the Middle East where it will later be transported to its partner abroad to be recycled and changed into pipes to be used for irrigation purposes. 12 tonnes of plastic for recycling were collected last year.