Earlier this month HortNews reported on the potential benefits of compostable string for greenhouse salad growers (see Compostable string could save costs). However, a supplier who has been selling such a product for the last five years has warned that more needs to be done to stimulate demand from growers.
Siep Dijkstra of Lankhorst Yarns, which has supplied Elite® Bio Twine since 2009, warns that environmental arguments will not drive the use of the string on their own. “There must also be a financial stimulus. We’re pretty much waiting for government policy to kindle this,” he said. “If a grower doesn’t get some monetary benefit, he won’t pay extra for it. In some countries, the processing of plastic waste is much more expensive than bio-waste. In the Netherlands we don’t have these issues and regulations. There is as yet no policy in place. So we have to wait for stimulation from the marketing side, or from the government.”
