Coal Bags/Fertilizer bags

Cork

What can you do with Coal Bags/Fertilizer bags?

They don't seem to be rycyclable.

In the countryside - there is a serious problem with this type of material.

Mexician

wat size fertilizer bags are they ??

Jim Martin

I've taken mine to the local re-cycling point but I wouldn't mind betting they get buried in landfill!

homer911

They are great as in improvised sled whenever it snows..

Funsterdelux

homer911 wrote: »

They are great as in improvised sled whenever it snows..

Aww yeah, put some hay inside and off down those hills, but in recent years we had to double up on bags because like everything else theyre getting thinner. Even when lifting the full bag of fertiliser one can easliy put their fingers through the plastic.

Back to the point, I think the best thing to do with them is reuse them for something, such as growing plants, storing timber etc. until they can't be used no longer.

BendiBus

homer911 wrote: »

They are great as in improvised sled whenever it snows..

That brings back great memories!

Shiny

Use them as rubbish bags.

wheatser

Id Be more than happy toi take them of ur hands. i use them for turf and am always looking for them. has anybody got any that i could take??

dahak

To be honest I'm not sure they are a very big problem any more.

The main reason for this is that compared to 10 or 15 years ago the amount used has decreased significantly.

Most granular fertiliser purchased (tonnage) comes in in bulk (loose by the trailer load) or in 500 kg IBC bags.This is often referred to as 'big bag' fertiliser.




Each one of these 500 kg bagsbags is equivalent to 10 of the standard 50 kg bags.


While bulk fertiliser would be mostly used by large tillage farmers and contractors the 500 kg bags have replaced the 50 kg bags for the most part for the medium to small farmer. The main reason for this is the physical labour involved in using them is far less as the 500 kg bags are lifted above the fertiliser spreader, normally with a loader, and then a split made in the bottom so you can put in the full bag at once. This works out much quicker and with a lot less physical work that putting 10 50kg bags in. Many farmers would have 1 or 1.5 tonne spreaders which can take 20 and 30 50kg bags respectively.

This widespread change from 50kg bags to 500kg bags has mostly happened in the last 10 years or so. In fact, like wheatse there is a constant demand for them by people using them for turf.

Regarding recycling, both types of bags can and are recycled. I found a good article from The Irish Farmers Journal about the two companies that do farm plastic collections in Ireland.
The Irish Farm Film Producers Group (IFFPG) collect and take silage wrap plastic and the Farm Relief Services (FRS) collect silage wraps and other plastic including 50 and 500kg fertliser bags.

So I guess this post boils down to two things:

1. A lot less of the 50kg style bags are now used in Ireland
2. Those that are around are in demand for reuse

By the way, silage wrap was in my opinion a much bigger problem that the fertiliser bags. This has been helped enormously by REPS and the film levy.

Mahatma coat

they do give off some serious fumes when you burn a big pile of em, and even then you are still left with a puddle of melted plastic, which we genearlly just ploug up the next year, silage wrap is fierce altogether, as for pbeing able to poke holes in them withyer finger, thats how we always opened them, less hastle than fiddlin around for knives;)

Judgement Day

I should have thought burning them is completely illegal as well as being an enviromental no-no!! :eek:

netwhizkid

Fertilizer bags are in bag demand for bagging turf and I filled over 500 last week with a few friends, just make sure the are cut Horizontally across the top and not up the side.