Career Profiles
Lynn Leavitt
Lynn Leavitt
Promoting recycling of agricultural plastics
Eastern Ontario beef farmer Lynn Leavitt can go to bed each night with relative peace of mind, knowing that he is doing his part to help farmers properly manage an agricultural by-product — long considered a nuisance — while at the same time benefitting the environment. Leavitt has developed a system for collecting, compacting, and wrapping agricultural plastics — bale wrap, silage bags and plastic twine — so that these materials can be neatly and economically trucked to a plastic recycler. Farmers aren’t getting paid for recycling this used plastic, but Leavitt says that there is considerable value in knowing that this material is being repurposed, rather than being burned (which is illegal) or buried in a landfill. In 2016, Leavitt designed and built what was later to be called the Pac-It compactor. It is a relatively low cost but effective way to handle used plastic so that it can be recycled. His efforts in developing the Pac-It compactor, and promoting agriculture plastic recycling over the years, earned him recognition as the Beef Farmers of Ontario’s 2023 nominee for The Environmental Stewardship Award (TESA). Farmers bring their bundled plastic to the Leavitt farm. Over the years, Leavitt says that the plastic recycling system to date has sent about 225,000 pounds of plastic to the recycling plant, and of that, about 30,000 pounds has come from the Leavitt farm. “It is great to see this plastic being recycled and repurposed into other plastic products, but I believe where the idea will really gain traction is when the used plastic is converted to biofuel, and that can be done,” he says. “Then we will have a system that goes full circle. The used plastic is made into biofuel, the biofuel is used to power the farm tractor that is putting up feed into plastic bags and tubes, and then that used plastic will be used again to produce more biofuel. It will be one more way to reduce the carbon footprint of agriculture.” Condensed from a story by Lee Hart. For the full story visit :