Alberta Great Twine Round-Up winners announced

The contest collected 16,500 kg of twine

A contest encouraging and celebrating farmers who collect and return ag plastic baler twine for recycling has its winner.

The Alberta Great Twine Round-Up, presented by Cleanfarms with support from the Agricultural Plastics Recycling Group (APRG), the provincial government and Alberta Beef Producers, saw 660 entries and 33 unique participants collect around 16,500 kg of twine.

For context, that’s about half the weight of a John Deere 9RX 830.

The winning individual prize of $3,000 went to a ranch in Special Areas 2, a July 30 release says.

This area includes the communities of Sullivan Lake, Berry Creek, and the area south of the Red Deer River.

The winner will donate that money to a charity of their choice.

Three 4-H clubs will also receive $3,000 each.

Those clubs are the Rocky South 4-H Beef Club, the Hanna Rangeland 4-H Multi Club, and the Lethbridge Northern 4-H Beef Club.

“It’s fabulous when teamwork comes together and our community helps our club with this great fundraiser,” the Hanna club wrote on its Facebook page on June 27. “Thank you to everyone who brought in twine and who helped gather and distribute bags. This is fantastic news for our club.”

This contest helps show the difference communities can make when they come together for a good cause, said Assar Grinde, chair of the APRG.

"Taking that first step, of putting your clean twine in a recycling bag rather than the garbage for the first time, is often the most difficult part,” he said in a statement. “The strong participation from 4-H clubs and individual entrants shows the Great Twine Roundup is a model for how targeted engagement can translate into positive environmental outcomes in Alberta."