IFA hails plastics collection scheme

THE roll out of the second phase of the farm plastics collection scheme, recently announced by the Environment Minister Dick Roche, has been welcomed by the Irish Farmers Association (IFA).

Counties included in the second phase are Longford, Roscommon, Leitrim, Wicklow, North Tipperary and Carlow.

IFA county chairmen are now engaging in discussions with their respective local authorities to arrange collection locations and dates.

Tom Dunne, IFA Environment Committee chairman, urged those living in counties that still remain uncollected to contact the Director of Services in their local authorities to ensure their county is included in the next phase.

Meanwhile, Agriculture and Food Minister Mary Coughlan told Wexford Fine Gael TD Paul Kehoe in a reply to a Dáil query that the Irish Farm Film Producers Group, (IFFPG) is currently the sole body in Ireland implementing a compliance scheme for the recovery of farm plastics waste. She was aware the scheme had lacked sufficient resources to satisfy the demand that existed for collections of farm plastics.

In order to address the issue of accumulated backlogs of farm plastic, designated facilities are being provided on a temporary, once-off basis by local authorities where farmers may deposit stockpiled farm film plastic and silage wrap.

This free service which operated on a pilot basis in some counties during the summer, is being rolled out to other counties on a staggered basis.