Improved environment net result

DEREK FLYNN/Marlborough Express

ENMESHED: Fruitfed Supplies horticultural representatives Johnny McMillan and Antony Bell on a mountain of vineyard netting collected for recycling.

The Blenheim branch of Fruitfed Supplies is helping vineyard owners dispose of old vineyard nets in an environmentally friendly way.

Fruitfed Supplies horticultural representative Antony Bell said Marlborough's flagship vines were often covered with netting just before harvest, but when that netting was no longer useful, people often just discarded it, by burying it or burning it.

Fruitfed Supplies has teamed up with Plasback, a company that recycles agricultural plastics.

Mr Bell said vineyard owners who wanted to dispose of their polytape and vineside netting in an environmentally responsible way could put it in a wool sack and let Fruitfed Supplies know about it.

Fruitfed Supplies would organise the transportation of the sacks to Plasback in Christchurch, where the nets would be reprocessed into a useable product.

Mr Bell said the only cost to vineyard owners was the sacks, which could be bought from Fruitfed.

"This way it's not sitting around in someone's shed or breaking down in an environment where it shouldn't."

Mr Bell said many vineyards would not be worrying about recycling nets, as they were still in use around the region, but as they came off, some of the older nets would need to be replaced.

He said the polytape nets lasted about four seasons and the vineside nets could last up to 10.

Fruitfed Supplies hopes it will be an ongoing project and partnership.

- The Marlborough Express