A long-standing plastics recycling program in the District of Kent is expanding to the Fraser Valley at large with the backing of the provincial and federal governments.
Cleanfarms, which has worked with dairy farmers in the District of Kent to recycle agricultural plastics since 2023, has now partnered with the Fraser Valley Regional District (FVRD) to launch a five-year pilot program serving the Fraser Valley.
“It’s bringing what they were doing to a broader reach across the regional district,” says Carly Fraser, special projects coordinator with Cleanfarms.
A field day in Agassiz on June 17 will introduce farmers to the initiative and give them a chance to test different compactors that will help them compress and bale items for on-farm storage pending regular, twice-yearly collection events.
The project follows similar initiatives in northern BC in the regional districts of Peace River, Bulkley-Nechako and Fraser-Fort George, which ran three-year pilots beginning in 2021. It’s the first such project in southern BC, though Cleanfarms runs regular collections around the province for farmers’ used plastic containers, totes and drums.
The information collected in the pilots will be used to inform a comprehensive plan for recycling agricultural plastics across the province.
The Kent Agricultural Plastics Recycling Society began its program in 2014, but began working with Cleanfarms in 2023 after its long-time recycler announced it would no longer accept their plastics.
Cleanfarms provided the group with logistical support while Dairy Farmers of Canada provided funding as part of efforts to help dairy farmers across the country become carbon neutral by 2050.
Government funding for the new pilot is through the Environmental Sustainability & Climate Change Program of the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership.
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