Representatives from Australia’s leading agricultural input industries gathered in Gatton recently to launch the pilot of bagMUSTER, an initiative of CropLife Australia in partnership with the Australian Seed Federation.
bagMUSTER is Australia’s first industry-led collection and recycling pathway for plastic agricultural input bags like those farmers use for seed and pelletised pesticide. The bagMUSTER program plays a critical role in enabling Australia’s transition to a more circular economy.
Speaking at the launch, CropLife Australia CEO Matthew Cossey said, “Today represents a significant step forward in addressing the critical issue of soft plastic waste for Australia’s farming sector.
“With our combined commitment to responsible stewardship of plastic agricultural input bags and support for achieving sustainable farming, bagMUSTER is specifically developed by industry for industry.”
He said the strategic partnership between CropLife and the Australian Seed Federation was established in November 2021 to establish genuine and environmentally friendly collection and recycling pathways for their industry’s product packaging.
Earlier this year, Agsafe was selected as the program partner. Agsafe general manager Dominique Doyle said, “The pilot will help us test and refine logistics, collection infrastructure, industry engagement and collective partnerships to ensure bagMUSTER is fit-for-purpose prior to national expansion.
“With our experience delivering CropLife’s existing stewardship programs, Agsafe is well placed and proud to continue the plant science sector’s legacy in delivering sustainable whole-of-lifecycle stewardship initiatives.”
Program partner, the Australian Seed Federation, said it was great to see the commitment of many industries to the pilots.
Australian Seed Federation CEO Katherine Delbridge said, “The seed industry shares this deep commitment to making a positive environmental impact.
"Our partnership with CropLife in delivering bagMUSTER allows our members to not only fulfill their commitments under the Australian Packaging Covenant, but also demonstrate their leadership and action in supporting Australia’s efforts in addressing the Recycling and Waste Reduction Act 2020."
Dominique Doyle said the excessive cost of landfill has meant the only alternative was to bury or burn on farm and the practice of burning waste on farms had been undertaken for generations by landowners.
‘The bagMUSTER program will finally allow farmers and the ag industry across the country to have a genuine recycling pathway for agricultural input plastic bags,” she said.
Distributed in single use plastic: 5kg bags up to 1000kg+ bulk bags woven polypropylene (PP) and biaxially-oriented polypropylene (BoPP).
This includes, but is not limited to:
• granulated crop protection products
• seeds
• biologicals
• bagged grain (not silo).
Pallet wrap, silage wrap, grain silo bags, soft plastic used in the dairy or grocery industries and other plastics that are not bags.
An important part of bagMUSTER will be how the bags are prepared prior to dropping them to a collection point, particulary ‘bulka bags’ as contamination in the bags is a problem for recyclers.
Make sure you:
• shake as much existing residue out of the bag as possible
• remove any liners that are not made from polypropylene
• prior to taking the bags to a collection site, store them so they won’t get wet or muddy
• roll, fold or bale the bags where possible.
All bags collected in the bagMUSTER pilots will be transported to approved bagMUSTER processors in either Melbourne or Brisbane.
bagMUSTER is an industry-led, not-for-profit recycling initiative for agricultural product bags, including those used to distribute seed and pesticide.
Two pilots are currently operating at Gatton in Queensland and Narromine in NSW.
Contact info@agsafe.org.au to find out more and get involved.
