Kevin's new agricultural plastics recycling scheme for Sutherland is very welcome
Welcome to 2022. And with a new year comes the annual Crofting Census.
This is now online and the letter gives you instructions on how to access your own forms on the website.
Online saves the Crofting Commission a lot of money in terms of postage and processing and is actually easier for us to complete than the old paper versions, especially if you have more than one croft.
But it only works if you have reliable internet access. If you don’t have reliable internet access, phone the Commission - their number is on the letter - or ask someone to do it on your behalf.
You should not have to pay an adviser to do it for you.
The census is a useful management tool and it is worth crofters completing it, as well as being a legal requirement.
The Commission can then use the money saved to follow up on more of those in breach of their conditions and so bring more crofts back into use.
And with the winter comes the problem of what to do with silage wrap, feed bags and mineral buckets.
Kevin Worrall from Gruids is working alongside Planet Sutherland on a solution for Sutherland crofters and farmers which is environmentally friendly, ecologically sound, promotes economic activity and could give us access to useful locally produced materials.
He has set up a social enterprise called RE:CirculateSutherland and got some initial funding from the Pebble Trust to run a pilot scheme. Premises will be in Sutherland for drop-off of agricultural plastics or there could be a collection system.
There will be a fee involved but you will be able to clear out the shed (as you have been promising to do for the last year or so) and get the appropriate documentation to show that you have disposed of your waste correctly under the regulations.
You aren’t allowed to burn or bury your plastic waste now. You don’t need a licence if you transport your own waste to a collection point but you do if you transport your neighbours.
The plastic will then be shredded and extruded to produce plastic pellets (which could be sold in that form) or be heated and used in moulds to produce building or fencing materials – boards, posts, raised beds, benches etc.
Plastic will last longer than wood and will help the environment and mitigate climate change by reducing landfill, cutting out the need to fell trees and reducing the need to transport new materials into Sutherland and waste materials out. A win-win if ever there was one.
Items sold will provide cash flow to employ operators, pay running costs, acquire new machinery to expand the range of products and eventually reduce the cost of disposal to crofters and farmers in the area.
There is a fair bit of work to do yet in finalising and setting up premises, getting the machinery in, assembled and tested - so don’t deliver your waste plastics yet but do watch this space.
This could be a low cost solution for a problem that was legislated into existence by a government which, full of good intentions, didn’t consider the implications on small producers in the more remote areas. Good luck, Kevin.
Russell Smith is a crofter at Bonar Bridge and a director of the Scottish Crofting Federation.
