Trials in France have shown that a combination of biodegradable plastic twine and clips can reduce contamination in compostable waste while performing well during the growing season.
The twine and clips have been developed by ARaymond’s in-house Research & Development team and were tested in conjunction with the Comité Départemental de Développement Maraîcher (CDDM) at two growers in the West of France for a 12 month period.
Mr Louis Vinet grows tomatoes and cucumbers trialled a selection of biodegradable products to use including 75,000 21S clips for tomatoes, 2,000 21S clips for cucumbers, 2,700m of ECW twine and 1,000m of ARaymond’s cotton biodegradable twine. Mr Jean-René Briand tomato crops exclusively from mid-December to November and was given 8,500 21S clips, 2,100 hooks and 31,500m of ARaymond’s biodegradable twine to test amongst other products.
Booth growers provided positive feedback, with Mr Briand citing a 0% breaking rate during the installation and positioning phase of the clips, while Mr Martin was particularly taken with the decrease in contamination and disease amongst crops since he started using biodegradable products five years ago. Using biodegradable products allows both growers to send waste material for composting without needing to leave it on the nursery before collection.
Photo Credit: ARaymond