FEATURE
FARM WASTE PIONEER COLLECTS ENVIRONMENT AWARD
A farm contractor who pioneered the collection and recycling of plastic farm waste
long before the introduction of the Agricultural Waste Regulations came into force
has had his foresight acknowledged by winning a prestigious national award “for
activities that enhance or protect the environment”.
Roy Hiddleston, Rigghead Farm, Shawhead, nr Dumfries met David Miliband,
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and was presented with a
Award at the annual Business Commitment to the Environment Awards ceremony in
London for his company’s Solway Bin and Liner System, now used on 22,000 farms
in the UK and Ireland.
Roy set himself the challenge of finding a way to recycle the estimated 500kg of
plastic waste, mainly silage wrap and pesticide containers, that is generated on a farm
each year when he was operating as an agricultural contractor in south west Scotland
20 years ago and plastic-wrapping 30,000 bales a season.
“I was appalled at the amount of used silage wrap that ended up getting contaminated
with dirt in untidy heaps on farmyards and fields because there was nowhere for it to
go. It was regarded as waste because there was no link between the farm and the
recycling industry,” he says.
In 1992 he set up Solway Recycling Ltd to act as the vital link, and has since
developed a nationwide collection service for plastic and hazardous waste that
operates as the National Farmers’ Recycling Service and is made up of almost 30
distributor/collectors operating from the Orkneys to Cornwall and in Ireland.
At the same time, he has forged links with a recycling industry that had up to then
been aware of the massive waste plastic resource within the agricultural industry, but
viewed it as a) dirty and b) impossible to collect and reprocess economically.
Central to the scheme is the patented ‘Solway Bin and Liner System,’ whereby
customers purchase sturdy 4ft high holding bins made from recycled material to
support the large, heavy duty clear polyethylene liners capable of storing the plastic
from 200-plus silage bales, up to 200 compressed agrochemical containers or 100plus large fertiliser bags.
When the Bin is full, the Liner can be removed by simply undoing the side clips on
the Bin and opening out the flexible sides. The Liners are large enough to provide
plenty of spare plastic to tie off at the top, and they are collected on pre-arranged
days.
Roy emphasises that he is not collecting waste, he is recycling a commodity. That is
why the liners are clear so that the contents can be inspected, and why each farm
operating the system is asked to follow a waste management policy.
“The legislation now requires each waste transaction to generate a Duty of Care
Waste Transfer Note, on the back of which we issue an annual Recycling Certificate.
These build up to show collection dates, volumes and types of materials to provide
evidence for cross compliance and farm assurance schemes.
“The liners are not uplifted if they contain excluded material or are wrongly
identified, and if foreign materials are found during processing a rejection penalty is
imposed.”
The waste management policy asks farmers to operate within four waste ‘streams’
based on the requirements of the waste plastic re-processing industry, each of which
must be stored in separate liners. These are:

Silage wrap, silage pit covers, plastic bags and packaging

Bulk fertiliser and feed bags

Rigid plastic agrochemical drums and containers

Net wrap, plastic string.
The full bags are transported to a network of consolidation plants before being recycled by one of the UK’s leading plastic waste processors, Centriforce, into products
for the utility and construction industries, including the Stokbord cable protection
covers and Centritile cable protection rolls that are used all over the world.
Other products made from reprocessed silage wrap and agrochemical containers
include garden furniture and planking, used for outdoor walkways and even the
Solway recycling Bin itself.
Roy reckons Solway Recycling now collects and recycles 20% of the agricultural
industry’s used silage wrap. “It is a great credit to our customers that they have
enthusiastically locked in to what is now an award-winning collection system that
complies with regulations and is seen to be a vital stage in the recycling process rather
than just a waste collection service.
And he warns farmers to beware of waste collectors looking to cash in on the new
regulations by offering to take loads of mixed plastic waste off the farm. “We have
found that the cost of segregating waste is prohibitive, so these new companies may
struggle to sustain their businesses in the long-term, which may mean that these
schemes may fail or materials are collected but they may not be recycled.’’
The Solway Bin and Liner System has recently been designated as the preferred
recycling service for the Tesco Producer Club in addition to being recommended by a
host of other leading farming companies including First Milk Direct, Dairy Crest’s
White Gold advisory service, Milk Link and by Syngenta Crop Protection.
It has even started to export its recycling system to New Zealand.
ENDS
For further information contact:
Roy Hiddleston: tel 01387 730666, mobile 07860 753385
e-mail roy@solwayrecycling.co.uk
Andrew Prince: tel 01387 730666, mobile 07793 109327
e-mail andrew@solwayrecycling.co.uk
or go to: www.solwayrecycling.co.uk or www.bceawards.org
David Miliband, Secretary of State for the Environment (left), presents
Roy Hiddleston of Solway Recycling Ltd with his Business Commitment
to the Environment Award in London.