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At a recent international conference, my Brazilian pesticide stewardship counterpart, Joao Rando of the industry-run organization inpEV, described in detail the inner workings of the world's most successful pesticide container management program. At the cornerstone of the operation is this simple fact: If you produce or sell a pesticide product in Brazil, you must be part of the solution for that packaging's return and proper destruction.
Once plastic is returned, the process is not terribly different than that used in the Ag Container Recycling Program (ACRP) in the United States. First, containers must be compacted to remove the air and, hence, lower the shipping cost. Second, the most economical method of “destruction” is carefully recycling the resource into appropriate products.
U.S. recycling
In the United States, we perhaps will never see anything like the Brazilian model of extended product responsibility in the form of mandatory collections. Fortunately for the responsible crop protection industry represented by the member companies of the ACRC, a number of retail/distributors are facilitating the return of properly rinsed pesticide containers. Steve Pizzitola at Tri-Rinse, St. Louis, an ACRC contractor, says that 95% of the pesticide container sites he services in 15 mid-America states are dealer operated. Usually, this means that the retailers provide the drop-off points or even collect the containers from their customers.
Site operators are asked to screen containers for proper rinsing and removal of booklets, sleeve labels, and caps. The success of this stewardship varies from site to site, but the overall level of cleanliness and recyclability of the recovered plastic continues to rise.
Once clean containers are aggregated in large numbers, the contractor can granulate the plastic and send it to either a secondary wash or an ACRC-approved recycling facility. There the plastic is made into various industrial materials such as plastic culverts, marine pilings and railroad ties.
This dealer collection is not unique to the Midwest, but states like Ohio and Michigan seem to be where some of these first successful programs began and where savvy dealers first encouraged the return of containers within large, clear polyethylene bags, thereby removing fear of secondary contamination of their dealership. Some 60 retailers in the Midwest alone now use the bag method for collection.
Local operation
Today, the ACRC is not only touting the bag-and-tag method, but also working directly with two dealers in New York state to test the theory that local operations are more effective than regionally run programs. The logic is that a retailer who knows his customers and region should be more effective in encouraging the return of containers. In 2004, the ACRC began subsidizing one baling operation at a 100-year-old co-op, Long Island Cauliflower Association. CEO Carl Key believes that baling both specialty and agricultural plastic in his environmentally sensitive area will be a win for his customers and for the co-op.
In 2005, the ACRC is kicking off another program in upstate Sprakers, NY. Kelly Wilder, part owner of Tri Valley Crop Center, says, “There are a lot of options for growers these days for buying crop protection products. I'm interested in demonstrating to my customers a level of service that they cannot get from Internet sales or other deep discount suppliers.” Kelly believes that what sets him apart is his commitment to being there for his customers. And being there means providing exceptional stewardship opportunities for proper pesticide container returns and recycling.
In a few pockets of the United States, exceptional service includes product responsibility, and the efforts in these areas define a “full-service dealer.”
Rob Denny is a Washington, DC-based environmental project manager. Currently, his two primary clients are the ACRC and the NY State Department of Environmental Conservation. Contact him at rdenny@arrowchase.com.
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