Māris Rehtšprehers, owner of the Mazlauri farm in Lēdurga parish, is a dairy and cheese producer. The farmer says that over the last two to three years, there have been changes in the collection of used agricultural packaging: “On the farm, we sort the used packaging ourselves and wash it. We prepare the raw material for the manufacture of new products. I must emphasise – raw material. Used agricultural packaging is certainly not waste,” says M. Rehtšprehers.

Mazlauri has signed a contract for the collection of used packaging with SIA ZAAO, which comes to the farm upon request and takes it away. Transport costs must be covered.

Gints Kukainis, Chairman of the Board of SIA ZAAO, urges people to consider that all types of plastic, including agricultural packaging, are petroleum products. Among other things, this also means they are affected by oil prices.

Several years ago, purchase prices for agricultural film and other recyclable materials changed significantly. The reason was the closure of the Chinese market to unprocessed packaging. Consequently, the supply of these materials on the European market increased significantly, and market prices fell sharply. For this reason, the selling price of the materials is often unable to cover the costs of their collection and sorting.