Did you know farmers use hundred-thousand tons of plastic to grow their fruits and vegetables and it doesn’t get recycled after use?
It is a long-established farming practice to use plastic to enhance the growth of fruits and vegetables. Farmers use plastic mulch to control weeds, pests and to retain water. At the end of the season most of the material ends up in landfills, burnt in the field or buried in the soil. All of these also contribute to the proliferation of microplastic particles that has detrimental affects for all species. For example farmers in Maryland use 200-800 tons of plastic mulch per year but there is no agricultural waste recycling program in the DelMarVa region. Given the scale at which farming produces plastic waste, the safe disposal of agricultural plastics is a critical initiative in the Chesapeake region. This work joins the United Nation’s universal call for a Decade of Action to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), specifically supporting the implementation of SDG12- Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.
Repurpose Farm Plastic LLC. will help farmers on the Eastern Shore and beyond to recycle their plastic waste by 2030. To address this need, we are creating a process to collect, clean and repurpose agricultural plastic to drive sustainable recycling practices in farms and beyond. We are a scalable business that creates a valuable product which can be sold for profit.