Sadly this program ended in June 1st 2016.  The R.A.P. P.  (Recycling Ag Plastic Parnership) started in the spring of 2013 and it grew quickly with much success.   We stopped collected at that time in Wayne County. 

Plastic film on the farm and the difficult means by getting rid of it had been an issue for a long time. Up until 2013 there wasn't  an environmentally friendly way to dispose of the tremendous amounts of plastic film waste generated on farms.   With many individuals, organizations, and team work, we created  an option producers had to recycle ... all for FREE!   RAPP was in Wayne, Ashland, Stark and Holmes Counties ! 

They just had to use "Super Sacks" and fill their bags up with relatively clean plastic wrap and then drop them off at designated drop off locations. 

These drop off locations allowed farmers to bring their full Super Sacks to the business, and then employees at the location helped the recycling customer unload the sacks. The sacks could weigh anywhere from 300 – 600 pounds, and also require a large location to keep them until there is enough for a pick up.  They put out literature, advertised with posters and signs, and help promote RAPP.  These businesses support the program so much that Town & County  Co-op   (Now called Centerra) created an entire web page about recycling ag plastic, and at Kidron, (John Sprunger) they constructed a frame holding a Super Sack so the public can also recycle feed sacks and film. This just proved they also believe in the cause. They were leaders in our community and we thanked them for the support and being conservation minded! We could not have done this without them.  

So what happened?  Well, our end hauler - that took the plastic and made large bales with it... must have know what was on the horizon. The time for America to ship our dirty plastics oversee's was soon going to be over, as the cost of dirty plastic on the market plummetted and there was no outlet for it.  China’s National Sword policy was a sweeping border control initiative launched in 2018 that banned the import of 24 categories of solid waste—including mixed paper and most plastics—into China. Additionally, the policy imposed a strict 0.5% contamination limit on permitted recyclable materials, effectively halting the country's status as the world's primary dumping ground.  Thus our ability to collect dirty agricultural film plastic and "recycle" it was ended. 

RAPP Success Spring 2015.pdf