21 February 2023
CropLife Australia is pleased to announce Agsafe as the chosen service provider and manager of its new bagMUSTER® program. bagMUSTER® is Australia’s first not-for-profit, whole-of-industry genuine collection and recycling program for plastic agricultural input bags.
CropLife, along with its strategic partner for the bagMUSTER® initiative, the Australian Seed Federation, assessed multiple options for the important role of the service provided for the program and Agsafe was determined to be the clear and best option to undertake this role.
Matthew Cossey, Chief Executive Officer at CropLife Australia said, “Our congratulations to Agsafe, who were selected following a competitive selection process. As the existing service providers for CropLife’s industry stewardship programs drumMUSTER® and ChemClear®, Agsafe were clearly the front runners, able to demonstrate how their established infrastructure and community relationships could be augmented to effectively deliver bagMUSTER®. These programs were developed by CropLife more than 30 years ago and Agsafe has run them since that time and has developed expertise second to none in such programs.
“This hybrid program draws from the best of Agsafe’s world-leading industry stewardship programs to deliver an industry-led, fit for purpose and genuine national collection and recycling service for the nation’s farming sector, with an expected roll out date of 1 January 2024.
“With decades of experience in world leading industry stewardship and the development of recycling programs this is yet another example of CropLife and our member companies taking the lead. Whole-of-lifecycle product stewardship is at the core of CropLife and the operations of our member companies. The advancement of light plastics recycling technologies in combination with our experience in delivering genuine product-stewardship initiatives has aligned to ensure bagMUSTER® will be a success.”
Katherine Delbridge, Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Seed Federation said, “Our strategic partnership with CropLife to deliver bagMUSTER® is critical to supporting our members to meet their obligations in the Australian Packaging Covenant and the broader agricultural sector in its efforts to address the vitally important Recycling and Waste Reduction Act.”
“Since the program was announced, there has been immense community support and enthusiasm from industry to participate once the program is rolled out across Australia, which indicates the need for a program like this,” said Mr Cossey.
“Importantly, once established, bagMUSTER® will be delivered through an industry-funded model, collaborating with bag suppliers and manufactures, agricultural retail stores, farming associations, brand owners and local governments to establish collection sites all over Australia. This will mean no farmer levy and minimise cost to the agricultural sector,” Mr Cossey concluded.
bagMUSTER® is part of the StewardshipFirst suite of industry-led product stewardship initiatives.
Find out more about bagMUSTER at bagmuster.org.au