Vol. 462 No. 4
25 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry if his advice to farmers using large amounts of black plastic to bale silage has changed since his reply to Parliamentary Question No. 150 on 8 March 1995 in view of a feature on this dilemma recently broadcast on the RTÉ programme, Ear to the Ground. [4707/96]
My advice to farmers is, as indicated in my replies to the Deputy dated 8 March, 20 June and 7 November 1995, to collect and store all plastics on the farm and reuse as much of it as possible. As the Deputy is aware, plastic film used to bale silage cannot be reused and as a result it should be disposed of in approved land fill sites.
It is highly desirable that as much waste plastic as possible be recycled. In this regard I was pleased with recent developments in the area of recycling of waste plastics. I understand that the National Farm Relief Services are putting in place a system of collecting waste plastic for recycling. Furthermore, I understand a number of private concerns have indicated an interest in providing a waste plastic recycling facility. I very much welcome these developments and I believe that such developments together with the good practices for disposal of plastics recommended under REPS will go a long way towards overcoming the difficulty of disposal of plastics from agricultural sources.
