Recycling Company Takes on Ag Plastics Recycling

Bueckers City Sanitation and AGSI Recycling are pioneering a recovery program targeting agricultural plastics. BCS is collecting agricultural plastic for the Minnesota pilot program through August 31, 2008 throughout Stearns County at their facility in Sauk Centre. In the first 20 days of the program, BCS amassed more than 75,000 pounds of ag bags, with more coming in daily, according to the company.

After collection, BCS hauls the baled plastic to the AGSI facility in Savage, Minn., to be processed into pellets used to make plastic lumber, which is becoming popular as decking.

Agricultural plastic is the least recycled plastic in the industry because it is difficult to recover such things as giant dirty ag bags from fields, according to the press release. The company says that recovery is just the first step in recycling, the second step is processing. Agricultural plastics are notoriously dirty and gum up the baling and processing machinery.

Area farmers are encouraged to bring their ag plastic (which includes ag bags, silage bags, plastic film/shrink wrap, plastic containers and plastic twine/netting) to Bueckers’ facility for free.

BCS was founded by Gene and Donna Bueckers and has been a family-run sanitation company in Sauk Centre, Minn., for more than 30 years. BCS offers refuse removal, an on-site demolition landfill and 100 percent recycling of all collected materials.