“It doesn’t matter if the grain bags were purchased this year, or if they were left over from previous years,” says Cleanfarms Executive Director Barry Friesen. “As long as farmers take steps to make sure they are free of grain and debris and rolled, we’ll take them at our collection sites for recycling.”

Directions for preparing grain bags and twine for recycling are included on cleanfarms.ca.

In 2020, Manitoba Conservation and Climate asked Cleanfarms to transition the grain bag and twine pilot to a province-wide permanent recycling program that will give Manitoba farmers broader access to recycling for these used ag plastics year-over-year. Under the regulation, responsibility for the permanent program now rests with the companies that supply grain bags and baler twine into the province.

Retailers should note, beginning on December 1, the regulated program includes a non-refundable environmental handling fee (EHF) that helps cover the cost of recycling. It is applied to grain bag and baler twine sales at the time of purchase which usually begins in early summer.

For Grain bags the EHF will be 25 cents per kilogram; for baler twine of all sizes it will be 33 cents per kilogram.

A similar program that includes an EHF has been in place for the past three years on the sale of grain bags under the provincially-regulated program in Saskatchewan. During this time, Saskatchewan farmers there have consistently surpassed year-over-year recycling rates. The Manitoba-regulated program will help to harmonize the recycling programs across the two Prairie provinces.

Cleanfarms has set up 35 recycling collection sites across Manitoba. Details about the location and hours of operation of each recycling collection site, along with instructions on how to prepare the materials for recycling can be found at cleanfarms.ca/what to recycle & where.