By Kristin Kveno
The Land Staff Writer
July 03, 2008 03:15 am
—
My mother fondly remembers the smell of burning leaves on the streets of her Chicago neighborhood growing up.
There was something so American at the time about being able to burn your waste and not have to worry about the pollutants and other hazards that now concern us.
As a suburban child I could never have fathomed the idea of setting leaves on fire in the street; how crazy and absurd. What would Smokey Bear have thought?
The Twin Cities banned leaf burning before my time. The only place burning was allowed was in the sanctity of the country farms and homes; now that is being slowly extinguished.
With concerns over the pollutants that burn barrels expel, many counties are getting tougher with their burning permits. Counties are concerned over the potential dangers that burning non-organic materials could present to the environment and, of course, to the people.
One company is concerned about this as well. According to its website, Savage-based AGSI is one of only a few outfits in the country that recycles agricultural-use plastics.
As more ag products are delivered in some sort of plastic container or binding, farmers are running out of places to store these bulky items once empty.
There are only so many craft projects you can make with bale wrap and 55 gallon jugs. That’s where AGSI stepped in and started their agricultural plastics recycling program.
They are currently collecting the following items:
• Bale wrap
• 55-gallon jugs
• Mini bulks
• Silage bags
• Bale twine
• Field film
AGSI is providing a great service to an industry that could certainly benefit from the positive things recycling brings.
I’ll admit I haven’t always been a good recycler. The lazy part of me thought nothing of throwing a pop can into the garbage when the can recycling bin was just mere feet away.
Thankfully I married a dedicated recycler who has changed my wasteful ways. I’m proud to say we’re now a recycling family, cutting down on the amount of garbage going to the curb every week.
My husband believes that farmers are the best recyclers because they use what they have on the farm until it is no longer operational and — instead of tossing it away like so much of the rest of America does — then re-use parts for other purposes.
I hope AGSI’s program makes it easy for farmers to recycle their plastic items and, in doing so, help Mother Nature, their fellow farmers and even those leaf-burning city folk.
For more information on AGSI log on to http://agsirecycling.com.
Kristin Kveno is the copy editor-staff writer of The Land. She may be reached at copyeditor@thelandonline.com.
Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.
Photos
