Cleanfarms reports record agricultural plastics recovery

Cleanfarms collected more than 11.8 million kilograms of agricultural plastics from Canadian farmers at its collection sites in 2025, according to the producer responsibility organization's newly reported national data.

The Etobicoke, Ontario-based organization said the result broke records for recovery of plastics used in agriculture across Canada. Its headline collection rates cover three years, placing the 2025 performance within a sustained national program rather than a single shipment cycle.

What did farmers recover?

“Across Cleanfarms programs, under 23L and bulk-sized containers achieved three-year average collection rates of 88 per cent and 63 per cent respectively,” Cleanfarms officials said. “Those are record-breaking achievements for the organization, and the small container collection rate is one of the highest in the world for crop input containers.”

Overall in 2025, farmers brought in over 11.8 million kilograms of agricultural plastics to Cleanfarms collection sites for recycling. The figure covers the agricultural plastic stream in the producer organization's recovery programs, with no provincial breakdown provided in the announcement.

How is collection rate measured?

Cleanfarms calculates collection rates from a three-year national average of the volume of materials it collected, compared with the volume of those materials sold into the market. The comparison ties recovery activity at collection sites to the market channel for recovered material.

Cleanfarms uses the data to measure program success and participation over time and to identify opportunities for additional support. A three-year calculation also means that one strong collection year does not stand alone as the reported rate.

The announcement does not disclose the underlying annual volumes for each container format, provincial tonnage or the formula used to combine collection and market sales into the reported percentages. Readers therefore have national benchmarks, but not the operating detail needed to locate the strongest or weakest recovery markets.

Where did collection take place?

Cleanfarms is based in Etobicoke and has team members in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes. That footprint gives the organization a presence across six named Canadian regions, although the cited data remains a national total.

The lack of provincial figures leaves open which markets drove the record. It also makes the 88 per cent small-container rate a broad program measure, not a claim that every region or collection site achieved that result.

What did leadership say?

Cleanfarms executive director Shane Hedderson said: “Circular Economy Month, held every October across Canada, is a fitting time to highlight these recovery rates achieved in 2025.”

He continued: “It shows the power of incremental change in the area of agricultural producer responsibility: year by year across the value chain throughout Canadian agriculture, we’re helping build a better future together.”

The timing links the annual recovery data with a national October observance. Hedderson's message placed emphasis on gradual gains across the agricultural value chain.

What is the emissions claim?

Cleanfarms claimed that container and grain bag recycling alone prevented 23.1 million pounds of carbon dioxide equivalent, or CO2e, from being emitted last year, in the context of its 2025 recovery results.

The claim covers container and grain bag recycling rather than every category in the 11.8 million kilogram collection total. The announcement provides no calculation baseline, methodology or external verification.

The figure therefore remains a Cleanfarms estimate rather than a separately certified emissions result.

What decides what comes next?

The next market checkpoint is whether Cleanfarms can repeat the 2025 collection performance while continuing to move recovered agricultural plastics into the market used in its collection-rate calculation.

A subsequent national disclosure would show whether 2025 becomes a durable operating baseline rather than a one-year peak. That assessment requires sustained farmer participation, continued market sales and clearer reporting on the provincial and container-format results behind the 88 per cent and 63 per cent benchmarks.