A36-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 15,2001
Official: State Seed Law Should Be Changed
ANDY ANDREWS
Editor
HARRISBURG (Dauphin
Co.) A lot has happened to the
nationwide seed industry since
Pennsylvania’s seed law was
adopted back in the mid-19605.
One official thinks it’s time to
make some necessary changes.
Adaptations to make required
labeling uniform across the coun
try will impact state growers, and
they are important enough for
the Pennsylvania seed industry
“to start making some changes to
the seed law,” noted Joe Garvey,
seed program supervisor at the
Pennsylvania Department of Ag
riculture.
Garvey spoke to about a dozen
seed company representatives
and other agri-industry special
ists Tuesday morning at the
PennAg Seed Council/
Pennsylvania Seedmen’s Associa
tion annual meeting at the Colo
nial Country Club, Harrisburg,
Garvey believes it could be
time to make some major over
hauls to the law, since it has
“been so long,” he said. Many
sweeping changes are taking
place throughout seed manufac
turing and marketing laws
throughout the country.
“With your support,” he told
the seed representatives at the
meeting, “it will go a lot easier
and faster.”
Last July, amendments to the
Federal Seed Act were proposed
by the Uniform Labeling Task
Force. The amendments made by
the Association of American Seed
Control Officials to the Recom
mended Uniform State Seed Law
(RUSSL) require a “SELL BY”
date that permits a uniform peri-
Forum: Plastics Industry Must Address Recycling Issues
ANDY ANDREWS
Editor
HARRISBURG (Dauphin
Co.) Pennsylvania horticulture
industries use 12.7 million
pounds of ag plastics annually.
Unfortunately, according to in*
dustry experts, the used plastics
are a resource wasted, with 20
percent being illegally burned on
site and more than 10 million
pounds landfilled.
Devising systems to recycle the
use of plastics should fall on the
shoulders of the manufacturing
industry itself, noted several who
spoke at the Landscape and
Nursery Rigid Plastic Recycling
Demonstration and Forum
Wednesday at the Farm Show
Complex in Harrisburg.
More than two dozen ag plas
tics manufacturers, ag and exten
sion specialists, and agri-industry
representatives attended the
forum.
One of the first steps to de
termine the fate of ag plastics
was taken this fall through a
plastic waste audit conducted at
several locations. This waste
audit helps “quantify what we
have,” said Tim Breneisen, recy
cling specialist with the Lancas
ter Solid Waste Management Au
thority. “If we can re-use this
stuff, we don’t have to dispose of
it or openly burn it.”
State laws prohibit the open
burning of ag plastics.
The audit was conducted at
several locations, including Es
benshade’s Greenhouse, River
Valley Landscapes, Octoraro Na
tive Plant Nursery, Roots Nurs
ery, Stony Bridge Landscaping,
and Hershey Nursery. The audit
determined the amount of plas
tics used and the cost of disposal.
Several landscape company
managers at the meeting noted
od of sale of 15 months exclusive
of the month of test that is con
sistent with the FSA. That would
benefit the consumer, the state
control official, and the lawn seed
industry alike.
Proposed amendments to
RUSSL were made in July in
Portland, Ore.
Many officials are reluctant to
simply change the law because of
the possible controversies that
would result, noted several who
spoke at the association meeting
in Harrisburg. Simply opening
the door and making major revi
sions could spell potential disas
ter.
But “why take what has been
decided as a group in Portland
and then changing it?” noted
Garvey.
The working relationship state
officials and industry continue to
have should make adapting
changes to the law a streamlined
process.
Vince Snyder, senior technical
associate, regulatory affairs, the
Scotts Company of Marysville,
Ohio, spoke about the RUSSL
amendments. The amendments
address the sale of specified cool
season grass seed for a 15-month
period following the test date.
Snyder hopes Pennsylvania
can change its existing seed law,
because labels will be affected.
The amendments are only that
proposed at this time and are
not enforceable.
The RUSSL decision, passed
unanimously, is almost “a Good
Housekeeping Seal of Approval”
for officials and those who buy
the seeds, Snyder noted.
But rather than opening up the
floodgates to controversy over
they were looking for alternative
disposal methods. Some agreed
they would do it, even at a break
even cost.
Tipping fees average about $5O
per ton of material. Those costs
can add up in volume over the
long term.
John Roulston, of the Cana
dian Polystyrene Recycling Asso
ciation, Mississauga, Ontario,
near Toronto, helps manage a
program with 250 greenhouses,
many from the northeast and
north central U.S. and Canada.
The association recycled polysty
rene plug trays provided by
growers in two Canadian prov
inces and 32 U.S. states.
The “cutoff’ size of operation
is about five acres under green
houses. “It’s difficult to get the
quantities to make the program
commercially viable with growers
of less than five acres size,” Roul
ston said.
The program had enjoyed
about 30-40 percent growth per
year, but came to a virtual stand
still prior to the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks.
The association, which opened
in 1991, attracts about
5,000-6,000 people per year for
tours, mostly school-age children.
About 60 percent of the re
cycled product is sold back to
manufacturer of trays. Forty per
cent is sold for molded parts, in
cluding car parts, vacuum hose,
and accessory business.
Although about 15-20 percent
of the product comes from the
horticultural industry, a large
percentage of the plastic received
comes from curbside waste pro
grams, the recording industry,
graphics, and other areas.
A challenge facing the associa
tion, noted Roulston, is the prolif
eration of alloyed-type plastics:
Speakers at the annual meeting of the Pennsylvania Seedsmen’s Association in
Harrisburg were, from left, Joe Garvey, seed program supervisor at Pennsylvania De
partment of Agriculture; Vince Snyder, senior technical associate, regulatory affairs, the
Scotts Company; Joe Butwin, ASTA vice president, and Stokes Seeds Inc. U.S. sales
manager; and Fred Mohr, chair of the PennAg Seed Council.
Photo by Andy Andrews, editor
major changes to the existing
state seed law, Snyder cautioned
that more could get accomplished
with less hassle if “you just let a
little beam of light on the sections
of the bill you want to change,”
he said. That would involve offi
cials and seed industry people
working closely, controlling dis
cussion of the changes.
The key is to obtain “a restric
tive title.” A title could go some
thing like this, according to
Snyder: ‘An act to amend Section
John Anstino, Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, demonstrates a plastic con
tainer “granulator” at the Farm Show Complex Wednesday morning.
Photo by Andy Andrews, editor
The company deals with pure
polystyrene, though sometimes
the growers don’t separate out
trays that are made of various
“other” components. Other types
of plastic the association doesn’t
handle are mixed in with newer
components in the plastics.
The association has a Website,
www.cpra—canada.com.
“Pennsylvania has developed
one of the most comprehensive
recycling systems in the nation,”
said Tom Boushel. Boushel noted
that new “barrier technology”
plastics are combined in with the
collection of consumer plastics in
traditional recycling programs,
which poses a challenge.
Still, new plants are having
""success in recycling plastics. He
pointed to the" 1 PREI-Recycle
285.3 of the Pa. Seed Act of 1965
and amendments to add a new
labeling requirement for specific
cool-season grass seed and to
amend Section 285.4(1) of the Pa.
Seed Act of 1965 and amend
ments to require the germination
testing of specific cool-season
grass seed within a 15-month pe
riod.”
To look at copies of the
amendments, those interested
can check out the Website,
wwwjseedcontrol.org.
America consumer plastics sys
tem.
It’s time to close the loop, Bou
shel said, in Pennsylvania, and
connect recyclers to manufactur
ers and apply that system here
and elsewhere.
“The major barrier is cost,” he
said. But the industry must come
up with the answer. This is called
“product stewardship,” Boushel
noted.
“To some manufacturers,
that’s a dirty word,” said Bou
shel.
One major soft drink company,
Boushel noted, had an attitude
problem: they didn’t care what
happened to the containers once
they were used by the public, and
if they could make another one
twenty-fifth of a cent more by ig-
Joe Butwin, American Seed
Trade Association (ASTA) vice
president, spoke about the con
cerns of irradiation of mail and
how mail-order seed companies
will be affected. Many of them
now must rely on UPS or PedEx
to ensure the viability of seeds,
which are destroyed by die an
thrax-ridding irradiation under
way at the U.S. Postal Service.
ASTA moved to Alexandria,
Va., and has a Website, www.am
seed.org.
noring recycling, so be it.
Luckily, he noted, “that atti
tude is changing everywhere.”
The trend increases as larger
corporations get bigger and in
crease their market share.
“In Europe, product steward
ship is very much the case,” he
said. “Germany, Holland, Eng
land, France you can make
whatever you want, but you have
the responsibility that if you build
this container, it gets recycled.
You put in place a system that
gets it recycled.”
He pointed to the work of
Volkswagen in “de-manufactur
ing” and building these types of
recycling plants. There is no dis
cernible difference between the
manufacturing and the recycling
plants. ■*