Reporting by Deborah Talbot

The sources of plastic waste from farming are numerous. One of the biggest is silage wrap along with plastic mulch for growing. But how effective are recycling schemes?

We talked to Jackie Flannery, Spokesperson for Irish Rural Association, about contradictions in the system causing anger among Irish farmers.

Plastic silage wraps and mulches are a critical resource for farmers. It allows for better preservation and fermentation of silage/haylage, crucial for feeding livestock during the winter months. However, it causes a huge waste problem. In Europe, 76% of agricultural plastic is film used for silage and mulch, of which 37% is for stretch and silage films and 28% plastic films used for greenhouse and mulching.

EU member states have various schemes for recycling agricultural plastics. Across Europe, however, only around three-quarters of waste is collected and a quarter of that recycled, according to a report by the European Commission in 2021. This leaves a vast amount of plastic to decompose into microplastics and its chemical by-products to leach into soil and water.

Are recycling schemes in Ireland fit for purpose? Not according to Flannery. Indeed, she has been active in uncovering a scandal of plastic waste stockpiling, leaving farmers out of pocket and, in her view, contravening Irish regulations.

Stockpiling

Irish Rural Association discovered that contractors’ yards responsible for disposing of recycled plastic through the Irish Farm Film Producers Group CLG (IFFPG) – the national recycling compliance scheme – were stockpiling farm plastic waste in large quantities from 15k to circa 30k over the past number of years, as shown in the numerous pictures taken. 

Photo credit: Jackie Flannery, Irish Rural Association

It raised questions for the Association as to how effective the work of the IFFPG was, and whether farmers are being held to higher standards than the organisation.

Their concern is also that there were only four IFFPG contractors that receive and process waste across the whole of Ireland, before new contracts were issued in late 2024/25. These (IFFPG) contractors were also owed payments for what was stored in these yards.

In response, IFFPG manager Liam Moloney has said that “Everything that comes in is recycled but sometimes there is a little lag between coming into the yard and going for recycling.” 

Farmers in Ireland are required to both pay for the plastic silage wrap at the point of purchase and pay again for recycling at a ‘bring centre’ or through collection by weight. The following shows the prices for each from 2021 to 2025. The cost of silage wrap includes a recycling levy. In Flannery’s view, farmers are paying twice when the waste isn’t being recycled effectively.

The Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine have had several meetings with IFFPG where members of this committee issued their concerns (a matter of Public record in Dail Eireann).

In May 2024, the Minister for State at the Dept. of Environment, Oisin Smyth, said in his opening statement that “The Department is supportive of the IFFPG goal of ensuring a full service to farmers this year and is supportive of the Scheme’s contribution to environmental management of farm plastics.” The body had performed well, he said, despite challenges such as the closure of the Chinese markets to waste plastic, the war in Ukraine and lower than expected sales.

This meeting had to be deferred as the Minister was unable to satisfy the questions from the members of the Joint Ag. Committee, as Irish Rural Association urged them to investigate the practices of the not-for-profit IFFPG, which is funded by the levy and the weight-based collection scheme.

Flannery says that all the responsibility is with farmers to prove they are disposing of farm plastics correctly. She argues that while Irish farmers are 98% compliant and are doing what’s required of them by DAFM conditions relating to the environment, public health, animal health & welfare, the IFFPG is not held accountable to the same standards.

“In our opinion this is not working. We have shown the photographic evidence of the stockpiles throughout the country. The time for excuses of the China market ceasing, the Ukraine war, is not acceptable anymore.

“It would be our opinion that the Department of Environment clearly have not followed through prior to our engagement with numerous public representatives and the Joint AG Committee, in highlighting this serious issue. Our own government/s has not really done the business when it comes to this matter of fully recycling farm plastics in Ireland.

“A clear plan must be put in place with a stronger requirement for washing, shredding, baling and either recycling it in Ireland, or exporting for recycling, or investing in product development from plastic.”

What farmers want

The Irish Rural Association want to see an investigation of IFFPG’s finances.

They advocate for a better contract for all contractors and a fairer farm plastics management scheme, with the levy shared around all contractors whether IFFPG or independent.

The want more government support to facilitate the works and equipment required to get the farm plastic to an end product ready for recycling and for four or five sites throughout Ireland for this purpose.

The argue for a total review of the costs that farmers pay. Farmers should not have to pay twice, and they note that Ireland is the only country to have such a system in place.

Going forward, they want to address the whole issue of what would be effective in replacing farm plastic. Once a product has been identified suitable for Ireland, there should be full information meetings carried out with farmers. Any new products should be be financially viable for the farmers, and existing machinery should be also suitable for using them.

For example, one product on the market is clear silage wrap. Clear plastics have more recycling end uses and therefore are easier to sell. They also have the advantage of allowing for easier monitoring of the silage as it ferments. Researchers need to explore whether these claims hold.

Another product being trialled from the not-for-profit research network Innovative Farmers is a film made from sisal. Starch is also a possibility, one being investigated by MINAGRIS. Farmers want a comprehensive and accessible list of alternatives, backed by science and costing.

Products need to be developed that work with local conditions, says Flannery. In Ireland, they should be able to withstand the rain and cold. Elsewhere, they need to cope with excess sun and heat.

But more broadly, farmers want a seat at the table – to be included when scientists plan and discuss their work, and when policymakers innovate solutions. Says Flannery of the recent Agrifoodplast conference in Brussels:

“I would make a comment on behalf of farming or on behalf of rural Ireland about what we’ve seen this happening in our country and that’s why we need more representation in the science area. We need more grassroots people like ourselves that have a hands-on knowledge of what we’re talking about. Backed up with the evidence and facts, and approach any improvements with a practical and common sense approach not the red tape and bureaucracy and blame that farmers presently face.”

Science and policy planning, in her opinion, has been divorced from farmers, meaning that the results and policy initiatives are too technical, bureaucratic and onerous. If farmers were involved, policy initiatives could be simplified and work in harmony with what farmers are trying to do – the vast bulk of whom are trying to be responsible stewards of the land.

MINAGRIS, like our sister project Papillons, is committed to engaging with stakeholders, like policymakers and farmers, to help find workable solutions to plastic waste and to communicate our findings effectively.

Flannery’s comments show us just how much work scientists and government, in partnership with farmers and landowners, need to do to reach a practical and fair consensus on reducing and recycling agricultural plastics.

Many thanks to Jackie Flannery and the Irish Rural Association for sharing her and their views and resources.