CHRIS LOWREY
PONTIAC Dec. 12, 2018
The MRC Pontiac and the Conseil Régional de l’Environnement et du Développement Durable de l’Outaouais (CREDDO) is asking local farmers to shed some light on their practices when it comes to agricultural plastics.
The survey can be found on the MRC website and its social media page.
The goal survey is to gauge the interest of agricultural producers in participating in a recycling project for the plastic used on their farms.

There are several different types of agricultural plastic, including bail wrap and plastic mulch, that are used on most farms.
Right now, many municipalities – including those in the MRC Pontiac – don’t have a recycling program for these types of plastics.
As a result, farmers have to pay to dispose of their plastic at transfer centres. In some cases, farmers simply burn the leftover plastics if the cost of disposing of it is too high.
This survey comes on the heels of a survey conducted by the MRC Pontiac last year, which had around 20 respondents. Of those who responded to the survey, 70 per cent said they’d be interested in participating in a recycling program.
“This CREDDO survey is going a little bit further to see how far [producers] would be willing to go,” said Kari Richardson, MRC Pontiac environmental coordinator.
The survey asks producers the types of plastics used on their farms, how much plastic they generate, how they’re disposing of their plastic now and what they’d be willing to do – in terms of travel and cleaning the plastic – as part of the program.
There are several uses for recycled agricultural plastic. It can be made into other plastic products including a type of cinderblock.
Richardson said there are already a couple of municipalities signed up to participate in a pilot project.
“So they’ll look at the volumes and the quality of plastic that they’re receiving and determine whether or not we could have some kind of regional recycling facility here,” Richardson said.
Right now, there is no facility that could handle this type of plastic in the Outaouais.
But in order for a facility like that to work in the region, it would require enough volume to make it viable – which is what the survey is aimed at determining.