Serena Klippenstein joined the Cleanfarms team as a project coordinator to help the organization implement recycling programs for Manitoba producers.

New face, new focus for Cleanfarms in Manitoba

Recycler adds staff member to co-ordinate shift to retail collection away from municipal sites

Cleanfarms is stepping up efforts to transition recycling depots to retail outlets instead of municipalities. The stewardship organization is responsible for collecting used agricultural plastics for recycling. In June it announced a plan to gradually transition its Manitoba sites at municipal transfer stations and landfill facilities to agricultural retail operations. [READ MORE] Manitoba nearly doubles recycled ag plastics

Ag retailers will supply producers with a large (and free) plastic bag that can hold about 
45 small pesticide and fertilizer containers.

Farm retailers take over collection of ag plastic jugs

Dropping off jugs at ag retailers will be more convenient, says Cleanfarms

The locations for dropping off ag plastic jugs in Manitoba is being moved entirely to ag retailers instead of municipal landfills and transfer stations, says the organization that runs the recycling program. “Transitioning to a retail-based collection for the jug program shifts responsibility to accept empty containers from Manitoba municipalities to the ag industry, which


Agriculture plastics are an area Cleanfarms hopes to expand its recycling rate in the coming years.

Ag diploma students meet with Cleanfarms

A class project turned into a real-life demonstration of how to affect change

Learning about developing farm policy and lobbying isn’t just theoretical for Reg Dyck’s ‘Issues in Agriculture and Food’ class of about 40 students studying for a diploma in agriculture at the University of Manitoba. “I think this has been a really good experience in a number of ways,” Dyck said Feb. 8 after his class met online

Cleanfarms already captures 75 per cent of small chemical containers in Canada, and aims to get to 100 per cent.

Lessons learned at KAP meeting

Ag diploma students took a resolution to KAP and taught everyone — including this reporter and themselves — a few things

Corrected, Feb. 9 — As resolutions go it was ‘mom and apple pie.’ But I was paying close attention, as it was from Reg Dyck’s ‘Issues in Agriculture and Food’ class for agriculture diploma students at University of Manitoba. Two other reporters and I were to question the students during an online media ‘scrum’ two


Agriculture has not escaped the pressure to cut back or find alternatives for plastics, including commonly used products like bale wrap.

Agriculture an opportunity in the push against plastics

Agricultural residues are often critical pieces in bioplastics, including products now being developed as plastic alternatives for agriculture and agri-food

The world according to bioplastic developers would look a lot more cyclical. In an age of campaigns against single-use plastic, zero-waste social media influencers and increased public interest in sustainable packaging, bioplastics — which replace polymers from fossil fuels with biological sources — have been touted as a biodegradable and sustainable alternative. But as much

A new recycling program has been announced for grain bags and bale twine in Manitoba.

Agri-plastic recycling program launched

Bale twine and grain bags will be accepted under the new provincially regulated program

Manitoba is looking to recycle more agricultural plastics. On May 26, the province announced the launch of an agri-plastics stewardship program targeting grain bags and bale twine, to be managed by agricultural recycling organization Cleanfarms. “What this means, really, is that farmers have access to a reliable program and one that’s going to be available year over year to recycle their grain


photo: cleanfarms

Ag waste recycling program to become permanent

Surveyed producers pro-recycling but leery about environmental fees

Agricultural waste recycler Cleanfarms is on its way to becoming a permanent, industry-funded program in Manitoba. This will likely mean more opportunities for producers to recycle grain bags, baler twine and other plastics. It will also mean paying for it. On November 30, Cleanfarms released a draft of its Manitoba Agriculture Plastics Plan (MAPP) and

Farmers, ag groups asked for feedback on recycling plan

Farmers, ag groups asked for feedback on recycling plan

Cleanfarms is set to transition its Manitoba pilot to a permanent, province wide program

Farmers, producer groups and agricultural suppliers in Manitoba are invited to give feedback on a plan for a province-wide agricultural waste recycling program. Cleanfarms, which recycles ag plastics and waste across the Prairies, is preparing to transition its Manitoba pilot to a permanent, industry-funded recycling program it said in news release on December 16. It’s


(Natt Boonyatecha/iStock/Getty Images)

Grains, oilseeds not included in Greens’ plans for biofuel

The federal Green Party’s plan to move Canada to zero emissions by 2050 supports the near-term use of plant-based biofuels — “but not from food that could otherwise feed Canadians.” Ahead of Monday’s federal election, the party released a climate action plan dubbed “Mission: Possible” that would ban the use of internal combustion engines in