Maggie McKerracher works in Accounting for our livestock feed business line in the western region of Canada. As a horse owner herself, she started thinking that there must be a better way to dispose of the Trouw Nutrition feed bags that regular recycling centres can’t take – and decided to do something about it.
Feed bag recycling pilot proves we can all make an impact
“I looked online and found Cleanfarms, a company that recycles big grain bags, bailer twine and other recyclable waste produced by farmers across Canada. They didn’t have a program for feed bag recycling but were interested in working together on a pilot.” Maggie saw the potential to provide a value-added service for customers while also helping the planet and getting ahead of new regulations around single-use plastics expected to make their way across Canada. So, she went to her management team and was able to get the go-ahead to give it a try. She sent Cleanfarms the specs for the Trouw Nutrition’s feed bags – they have both three- and five-layer bags, which require different processing – and together they developed an approach.
The pilot has been successfully up and running since January 2024. Cleanfarms set up bins for accepting Trouw Nutrition feed bags for free recycling at the company’s Okotoks and Westlock mill stores in Alberta, Canada. Maggie had signs and rack cards made up to explain the process. Once the bags are collected and picked up by Cleanfarms, they are broken down into plastic pellets that can be used to make a variety of different plastic products, such as car parts, pots and trays for greenhouses, dimensional lumber and composite decking, plastic sheeting and lumber wrap. So far, the bins have been filling faster than expected and customers have reacted very positively.
At the moment, no one else in the industry here is doing this, but I hope that other companies will follow our lead. I’ve learned a lot through this project – I’m in Finance, so it has nothing to do with my area of expertise but it’s something I’m passionate about.
While there were speed bumps along the way, I knew this was the right thing to do. It was exciting to see it finally implemented! And we have already signed an agreement with Cleanfarms to expand the pilot project to include other bags used within our mills.
Related Sustainable Development Goals
