The suspension of plastic farm waste collection across Wales has prompted the Farmers’ Union of Wales to call on the Welsh Government to implement emergency measures to help farmers recycle the thousands of tonnes of bale wrap, silage bags and other plastics a year generated in Wales.

“The FUW is extremely concerned that the Welsh Government appears to be washing its hands of this potential time-bomb of rubbish, as farmers clean out their farms in an environmentally friendly manner after the winter,” said FUW president Glyn Roberts.

The alarm was originally raised last year by Birch Farm Plastics, which is the only company in Wales dedicated to agri-plastics collection. Citing issues including recycling centre costs, the company suspended all collections for recycling after 30 years, starting from this month until the end of the year, leaving farmers without the means to recycle their waste.

In February of this year, the FUW wrote to the minister for environment, energy and rural affairs Lesley Griffiths to highlight this issue. 

In her response, the minister stated that she was “keen to develop a circular economy in terms of the plastics we use” and added that it was “important to collect and treat waste farm plastics and have sufficient facilities for this purpose”.

“But it is obvious that the infrastructure has, for whatever reason, broken down and it appears to be the farming industry which will bear the brunt of this crisis,” said Mr Roberts.

“We are facing a major problem that is not of our making and that is not in our control.”

See this week’s south papers for the full story, available in shops and as a digital edition tomorrow