The German agricultural plastics recycling initiative Erntekunststoffe Recycling Deutschland (ERDE; www.erde-recycling.de) has increased its collection volume further in the fourth year after its inception. In 2017, it recovered over 7,061 t of agricultural films, according to waste management specialist RIGK (Wiesbaden / Germany; www.rigk.de). Against the previous year’s 5,411 t of material, the amount of silo and stretch films collected increased by 30.5% – see Plasteurope.com of 13.06.2017.

The company has collected films on 340 occasions and at 322 agricultural collection points. The system is said to help participants reduce disposal costs, despite China's restrictions on plastic waste imports. These restrictions led to significant cost increases in the sector according to RIGK. However, ERDE, ignoring the general trend, managed to keep disposal costs low.

Under the German plastics packaging association Industrievereinigung Kunststoffverpackungen (IK, Bad Homburg; www.kunststoffverpackungen.de), and in collaboration with RIGK, ERDE organises the collection and recycling of used agricultural films made of LDPE (fraction 1) and LLDPE (fraction 2) by collection partners across Germany. Collection dates and locations are available on ERDE's website.