MUNICIPAL EXCELLENCE NETWORK
PRACTICE COLLECTION FORM
General Information
Date
February 9, 2016
Name of Practice
Agricultural Plastic and Wire Recycling Program
Name of Municipality
Mountain View County
Your Name and Title
Jane Fulton - Manager of Agricultural Services
Phone Number
(403) 335-3311 ext 184
Fax Number
(403) 335-9207
E-mail for Practice Contact(s)
jane.fulton@mountainviewcounty.com
Mailing Address
Postal Bag 100
Didsbury, AB T0M 0W0
INTRODUCTION
When completing this form, use your own words and share your practice in a story format. Please do not
include any derogatory comments. Use paragraphs and bullet points to organize your practice. This is not a
business case but instead is intended to be informative for your peers, showing them the processes and
outcomes of your practice. Be sure to focus on what you learned so that it is helpful to the reader. Click on
the grey boxes to type in your answers. The boxes will expand as you type.
THE ISSUE
Question
Abstract:
What is the practice you developed or are developing
(brief abstract)?
Please briefly describe the final practice developed.
(e.g. if you developed a new Council agenda, list the
agenda items, or if a new communications plan was
created, provide a summary of the plan’s goals,
objectives and highlights.)
Answer
Mountain View County recognized the
environmental impacts of agricultural
waste products. With very few disposal
options available to producers, agricultural
plastics, for the majority, were being
burned and buried on farm. Old wire was
being stockpiled, found littered or buried.
Mountain View County(MVC) and
Mountain View Regional Waste
Management Commission (MVRWMC)
cooperatively developed a program to
provide producers with environmentally
responsible solutions for their waste
agricultural plastics and wire.
Need:
Please describe (just a couple of sentences or bullet
points) why you needed to create this practice (policy
or process).
What issue made it necessary? (e.g. “We needed a
comprehensive plan to deal with…”, or “We needed
an annual forecasting tool because…”)
Documented in Agricultural Service Board
meetings minutes from May 12, 2005, it
was discussed the difficulties with black
silage plastic ending up in road allowance,
as well as twine and other agricultural
waste being littered throughout the
County. It was after this meeting Mountain
View County started their ground work to
address waste agricultural plastics and
wire.
In 2006, at the Provincial Agricultural
Service Board Conference the following
resolution was passed; "Be it resolved:
That Alberta's Agricultural Service Boards
request the Department of Environment
and Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural
Development encourage private industry
to recycle the bale and silage bag/ bale
covers". This further encouraged MVC
and MVRWMC to pursue an agricultural
plastics recycling program.
The program was initiated to reduced the
dependency of on-farm dumps, encourage
reclamation of existing refuse storage
sites and reduce the amount of recyclable
products from going into our landfill
system. We needed to provide
environmentally responsible solutions to
producers for waste agricultural products
as many of the practices for the disposal
of these products were prohibited or could
potentially contaminate soil or water
sources.
The Alberta Environmental Protection and
Enhancement Act prohibits the burning of
Prohibited debris, such as plastics and
baler twine. The Water For Life Strategy
identifies the importance of protection to
ensure safe, secure ground water as "over
90% of rural Albertans depend on
groundwater for their water
supply"(Government of Alberta
Environment and Sustainable Resources
Development).
CREATING YOUR PRACTICE
Research:
The Agricultural Service Board consulted
How did you obtain information to help design your
practice (including consultation with stakeholders,
formal and informal research)?
Please include any research documentation you can
share, or give us a source reference (e.g. Web site,
literature, “We reviewed the bylaws from other
municipalities in the area…”).
with local producers through one on one
site visits and telephone communications
to evaluate their willingness to participate
in a recycling initiative. It was determined
they would be more likely to participate if
there was an incentive to offset the labour
and equipment costs for preparing
products for recycling.
MVRWMC determined the need feasibility
of recycling farm plastics and to see if
there was commercial interest in receiving
recyclable agricultural waste products.
Meetings occured with commercial
recyclers, discussing high temperature
incineration as an alternative energy
source and as a method of recycling, other
recycling options are also being explored.
A trial Farm Plastic Round-Up event was
hosted to help research and evaluate the
program's viability to engage and
encourage the public to recycle their
agricultural plastics. An incentive of $100
was offered to the first 100 producers to
bring their farm plastic in to the Olds
Transfer Station on April 28, 2007.
Participants from nearly 70 farms and
youth organizations across Mountain View
County lined up on the outskirts of Olds to
take part in the first-ever event. A total of
19610 kgs (43233 lbs.) of agricultural
waste plastics such as twine, silage
plastic, net wrap and tarps were brought in
to be recycled at the Olds Transfer Station.
There were no other models or sources to
consult as this type of event was not only a
first for Mountain View County; it was also
the first event of its kind to be held in the
entire province of Alberta. Dave Whitfield,
a Waste Minimization Specialist for Alberta
Environment, was on-hand to observe the
event.
Process:
How did you go about designing your practice? For
instance, did you create a team, hire a consultant,
borrow something ready-made from another
jurisdiction?
Describe briefly who did the design work and what
The team created was comprised of MVC
employees and MVRWMC employees to
design and coordinate the program.
Alberta Environment also participated in
some of the initial research and planning
meetings.
process they followed.
MVC works with local media sources to
generate news articles leading up to the
event as well as reporting on it's success.
Highlighting the purpose of the program to
educate and reduce the dangers and harm
of burning plastic in low temperature
burning piles or barrels which results in the
release of toxic pollutants directly into the
air, one of the major sources of some
pollutants impacting air quality in our rural
areas.
The Agricultural Service Board(ASB) funds
the incentive to encourage producers to
bring in their waste agricultural plastics. As
well the ASB funds the cost of processing
the wire into recyclable packaging for ease
of transport, thus creating a free recycling
program for our producers.
MVRWMC collects the wire at the
Didsbury Landfill location and contracts
the packaging of the wire. MVWMC
provides a collection site at the Olds
Transfer Station for Agricultural plastics,
offering a year round location for
Agricultural Plastic recycling as well as
packaging the plastic for transport.
MVRWMC coordinates with commercial
recyclers for product pick up.
GETTING APPROVAL FOR YOUR PRACTICE
Authority:
Whose/what approval did you need to create and
implement the practice?
Reporting:
How did you inform the decision-maker(s) about the
practice and your need for their approval?
Please note the name of any documents provided to
the decision-makers that you would be willing to
share.
Mountain View County's Agricultural
Service Board recommended approval of a
the financial incentive, budget approval
was received by MVC Council. Alberta
Environment was consulted throughout the
process of developing the agricultural
plastic recycling program.
Request for Decision and information
items were presented to the Agricultural
Service Board(ASB). After the
implementation of the program there was
an annual budget item for the Agricultural
Plastic and Wire Recycling Program, that
was approved by Council. Meeting
minutes from some of the initial ASB
meetings have been included.
Consultation:
Did you consult with stakeholders as part of your
approval process?
If so, how? If possible, attach a copy of templates,
surveys or other documents you used as part of your
consultation.
IMPLEMENTING YOUR PRACTICE
Plan:
Describe the process you went through to implement
the practice. If you used an implementation plan,
please note it here.
Mountain View County partnered with
Mountain View Regional Waste
Management Commission and consulted
Alberta Recycling Council, Alberta
Environment and commercial recyclers to
determine the requirements to ensure the
agricultural waste products brought in
could be recycled, package sizing and
special requirements and the need to
separate different products.
After the success of the one day Farm
Plastic Round-Up event the program has
expanded to offer more convenience to
busy producers. We now offer the first
100 Mountain View County residents or
local 4-H clubs who deliver a minimum of
100 kgs of agricultural plastics for
recycling a $100 incentive. The program
dates have also expanded and now runs
from the beginning of April to the end of
October instead of only focusing on One
day per year.
Eligible agricultural plastics for recycling
include: twine, silage plastic, hay tarps,
poly and grain bags. All of the agriculture
plastics brought in need to be free of
debris. Silage plastic, hay tarps, poly and
grain bags need to be in 3'x3' bundles.
Policy:
What changes to bylaws, regulations or procedures
were needed to implement this practice and how did
you deal with them?
Please attach a copy of the change in bylaw, policy or
procedure.
The Agricultural Wire Round-up allows
residents to take in the first 50 tonnes of
wire to be recycled free of charge. The
wire must be free of debris (sirt, sod,
posts) and it must be rolled as tightly as
possbible. Once 50 tonnes has been
reached the charge for disposal is $0.10
per kilogram.
Compliance with the Alberta
Environmental Protection and
Enhancement Act was the key focus,
implementing this practice allows our
producers to be in compliance with this
provincial enactement.
When:
When did your municipality begin to use the practice?
Was it implemented all at once or in stages?
Who:
Who was responsible for implementing the practice?
If someone else is responsible for ongoing
management, who is it?
RESOURCES REQUIRED
Budget:
How much did it cost you to design and implement
your practice (i.e. We saved/spent $XX per year)?
The agricultural waste plastic recycling
program was extended from the one day
event to a longer period of time to give
producers and 4-H clubs a chance to bring
in their agricultural plastics to be recycled.
This would also make it easier for the staff
at MVRWMC to accommodate the
recycling brought in and reduce the
intense strain of a one day sorting
process.
Responsible for implementing the
programs:
- MVC staff
- MVRWMC staff
- ASB
- Council
Individual names are availabe upon
request.
There is an annually budgeted amount for
the incentive componenet of the
Agricultural Plastic and Wire Recycling
Program of $15,000.00.
What are your ongoing operational and capital costs,
if any?
Staff:
What human resources did you need to design,
implement and manage your practice? (e.g. “It took X
staff member(s) X months on this” or “This is part of
normal staff duties.”)
It is a regular part of staff duties to create
inovative beneficial management
programs for the agricultural sector. The
original development of the program over
a course of two years involved one staff
member's time approximately totaling a six
month period to develop, receive approval
and implement the first trial project. In
subsequent years mainiaining the program
has required the following human
resources:
1 Ag. Dept Staff 10hr /month
1 Accounts Payable Staff 30min
twice/month
MVRWMC Staff - 1 scale person- 30hrs
anually - Weights & Documentation
2 baler operators - 70 hrs annually Handling/sorting and baling
Infrastructure:
What “capital costs” (such as information
technology,other equipment or building assets) did
you need to design, implement, manage, and/or
evaluate your practice?
EVALUATING YOUR PRACTICE
Formal:
If you did a formal evaluation (e.g. user satisfaction
survey, analysis of annual expenditures or number of
rate payers served) for your practice, please describe
the evaluation tool and the process used.
Tell us who was involved.
Informal:
If you did an informal evaluation, describe what you
did (such as discussing the practice with people in the
office or on the street, or letters/comments received).
By establishing the partnership with
MVRWMC the infastructure and
equipment needed for the Agricultural
Plastic and Wire Recycling Program was
already in place.
The evulation of the program is baed upon
the uptake of program, interest, budget
evulation, documetation gathered and the
producer feedback. We formaly evaluate
the quantity recycled each year to ensure
a cost effective program. The weights of
recycled product are provided by
MVRWMC.
Informal evaluation of the program is
gathered through feedback from
participants, every year there are over 100
producers who participate in the
agricultural plastics recycling program and
a range of participants for the wire
recycling program. All of the feedback from
participants has been positive and
encourages the County to continue with
the program each year.
We have received positive media
coverage on our program and examples
have been attached.
Performance measures:
Please list the performance measures for this practice
(i.e. reduced number of complaints, money saved, or
change in equipment life expectancy.)
In 2007 there was 19,610 kgs of farm
plastic recycled.
Please list the process you used for measuring
performance, (i.e. We do annual surveys on…)
examples include:
 collecting data
 establishing a baseline
 applying the measures
 results
 follow up
In 2009 there was 19,265 kgs of farm
plastic recycled.
In 2008 there was 18,950 kgs of farm
plastic recycled.
In 2010 there was 23,830 kgs of farm
plastic recycled.
In 2011 31,730 kgs of farm plastic was
recycled by County residents and the local
hay processing plants have now joined the
program and an additional 7,240 kgs of
twine was recycled, totalling 38,970 kgs
from all sources for 2011. This is nearly
double the amount from our first year of
operation.
From 2007 -2009, 111.51 tones of wire
was brought in for recycling by County
residents. To date a total of 150.76 tonnes
of wire has been recycled.
Changes:
(a) Based on the evaluation (formal or informal),
describe any changes you have made, or would like to
make, to your practice as a result. (e.g. “After
implementing this practice, we decided that it would
be better if…”)
-or(b) Has your practice met your expectations and if so,
how?
LESSONS LEARNED / BENEFITS RECEIVED
Benefits:
What are the benefits of this practice to your
municipality? (eg. Preparation of Council agenda
packages now requires less time, etc.)
Key Lessons:
What key lessons have you/your municipality learned
through the process of:
 designing;
 obtaining approval;
 implementing; and
 evaluating your practice?
Include any problems, surprises, and unanticipated
benefits. (e.g. “We realized that we needed to spend
more time…”)
The program was expanded to additional
locations that would host one day events
at remote regional transfer sites. This
approach was taken to encourage and
simplify participation for residents that had
to travel greater distances in the
municipality to get to our main regional
waste site. An offer to participate was also
extended to the local 4-h Clubs as means
to raise funds for 4-H activities. 4-H clubs
offer on farm pickup in exchange for
receiving the $100 incentive payment that
the producer may be entitled to. Many
local clubs have used this to collect
plastics from as many as 12 farms, which
has raised $1,200 for their club.
Some of the benefits for MVC resulting
from these programs include:
- a good relationship with local producers
- producers are becoming aware of
beneficial management practices
- cleaner air
- decreased soil contamination
- decreasing the chance of groundwater
contamination
- less recyclable materials entering the
landfill
Lessons learned:
- twine needs to be kept inside at the
transfer station so that it will dry out before
being baled
- make the advertisments clear that the
incientive program ends when the first 100
participants bring in 100kgs of ag. plastic,
the incentive won't necessarily run until the
end of October
- Communicating importance that
recyclable products must be free of mud,
debris so commercal recyclers will accept
them.
Advice to Municipal Peers:
What advice would you give to another municipality
that is considering adopting your practice? Is there
anything you might have done differently?
PRACTICE UPDATES
New Information:
There may be some new information to add since this
practice was first posted. This is especially true if:
 a new process has been implemented in your
municipality;
 there are new practice evaluation results; or
 there has been a change affecting organizational
direction. For example, explain how new economic
conditions or a new vision/strategy affect the
practice.
Many municipalities and companies such
as CleanFarms have approached MVC
and MVRWMC on how to set up an
agricultural plastic recycling program, we
have received coverage in local media as
well our program has been featured or
mentioned in a presentation made by the
BC Agriculture Council, in Agricultural
Service Board resolutions and in a report
made by the Recycling Council of Alberta.
We have also received requests from
producers outside of our municipality, not
for the incentitive but for access to the
disposal option we have provided our
producers.
Provincial demand is so high the ASB has
lobbyed the province in 2006, 2011 & 2012
to develop a povincial wide program.
Please indicate those changes here. Don't forget to list
any new documents that may be useful to your peers.
Then go to "Other Information" to attach the new
documents.
OTHER INFORMATION
Suggestions:
Please list relevant information sources that others
might use or you would be willing to share (courses,
Web sites, literature, experts).
Recycling Council of Alberta - Christina
Seidel
Clean Farms - Barry Friesen
Crowfoot Plastics - Kevin Kernahagn
Alberta Agriculture, Resolution Response Maureen Vadnais
Documents & Attachments:
Please list any documents you would be willing to
share with others interested in your practice (e.g. a
bylaw, a policy, approval documents, templates).
* Note: Most documents can be electronically
attached to your practice in the MEnet database. If
Our forms and advertisements are
available for use.
only a paper version of your document is available,
please send it with your completed Practice Collection
Form. We will scan it and attach it.
Nominations:
Do you have any suggestions of other individuals or
municipalities with municipal practices that we should
add to the Municipal Excellence network? Please list
their practice, municipality, and contact information.
N/A
Or, e-mail menet@gov.ab.ca and let us know about a
municipal colleague that has a really good way of
doing things.
COMMENTS
Have we missed something; anything you’d like to
add to the areas we have touched on, or an area we
have not mentioned?
N/A
Thank you for your contribution to the Municipal Excellence network. Please return this form
as soon as you are able.