HELP International to start grain bag recycling program

Weyburn Review, March 24, 2010

Farmers looking to get rid of their used grain bags may have an option close to home, as HELP International is starting a grain bag recycling program.

The non-profit organization needs 40 grain bags, as it intends to use them in its upcoming tree planting program. The grain bags will be used in conjunction with regular tree mulch pads to create a more solid barrier around the tree seedlings. The grain bag recycling program will be the first of its kind in Saskatchewan, as the bags will be kept in the province and dealt with here.

This is another "first" for HELP, as last year the company stared the first Styrofoam recycling program in the province. The program also fits in with HELP's philosphy of keeping all local waste in the community, as opposed to shipping it away to be dealt with.

Farmers can't dispose of the plastic grain bags at the Weyburn landfill, because the City of Weyburn instituted a policy on January 13 of this year banning the bags from being dropped off there, explained Jesse Watamanuk, an engineering assistant with the city.

The bags are too big and bulky to be easily disposed of, don't compact well in the trash compactor, don't deteriorate easily and can be frustrating to deal with. Anyone brining a grain bag in will be turned away at the landfill gate by city employees.

HELP CEO Rodney Sidloski explained the need for grain bags arose after they realized they needed 45,000 tree mulch pads for this spring. HELP plans on palnting more than 65,000 tree seedlings this year, and the non-profit group's partners have agreed to purchase 45,000 of them, which necessitated the need for the mulch pads.

"It's something we invented and came up with, a method that improves on the four-foot plastic mulch (pads),", Sidloski said, "because the four-foot plastic mulch still leaves the hole that you can put your hand through to get the tree out.

"But if one ragweed grows in the same hole, it grows to be six feet tall because it's protected the same way the tree is. And that ragweed is more than a thousand times the volume of this little seedling, so you've kind of defeated your purpose."

To counteract that problem, HELP will cut the grain bags up into one-foot by one-foot pieces. A small incision will be made and then slipped around the seedling, leaving little to no extra room for anything else to grow with the seedling Then a four-foot by four-foot mulch pad will be placed on the grain bags to serve its normal purpose.

So far he has received six grain bags and cut them up into 3000 pieces. Sidloski intends to develop a mechanical winch system to more easily roll up the heavy grain bags. Besides stopping the growth of weeds, the grain bag should also halt the evaporation of water if a strong wind is blowing, as there will not be a large hole in the plastic compared to regular mulch pads.

(Souce: Weyburn Review)

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