As part of their sustainability drive, agricultural sciences company, FMC, is cutting single use plastic waste on farm by phasing out the supply of measuring cylinders with their Sulfonylurea (SU) product range, by 2021.
Speaking at CropTec, Simon McMunn, FMC country lead, explained that the agriculture sector produces around 85,000 tonnes of plastic waste each year.
“If we’re to contribute towards the government’s targets to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste by the end of 2042, changes need to be made,” he said.
FMC is dedicated to driving sustainability in the agricultural industry with a goal to ensure 100% of their global R&D spend is on developing sustainable products by 2025. In light of this, in the UK they are committing to supporting farmers in reducing single use plastic waste on farm.
“Earlier this year we commissioned independent market research, which demonstrated that 84% of farmers are concerned about single use plastic waste and two thirds would buy more sustainably packaged crop protection products if all factors were equal.
“We’ve listened and have made a move to reduce unnecessary packaging. By removing measuring cylinders, we will cut the amount of single use plastic waste on farm by 2,000kgs, which is equivalent to 100,000 plastic bags,” said Simon.
“This will also reduce packaging by 40 percent, which will increase storage capacity in warehouses along with reducing carbon emissions from transporting SU products.”
He explained that currently most SU packs have a measuring cylinder on top. “As of 2020, measuring cylinders will be provided separately by distribution, and eventually phased out by 2021. We’d also encourage growers to do their bit by reusing the measuring cylinders they have,” concluded Mr McMunn.
