The agricultural sector wants to embrace more sustainable silage baling solutions while also maintaining functionality and application efficiencies. Berry Global is helping to achieve this ideal fusion with Silotite® balewrap film, part of the company’s B Circular range.

Striving For Sustainable Solutions in an Evolving Landscape

Sustainability is amongst the most pressing challenges facing industries around the world. In some cases, sustainability initiatives are led by current and forthcoming statutory requirements, as legislators aim to improve the environmental impact of packaging. Others are commercially driven in response to the demands of consumers or other third-party stakeholders.

Whatever the driver is for improving a product’s sustainability attributes, it is clear that any gains must not be offset by a drop in efficiency, quality, or performance. Therefore, a practical question emerges. Can sustainable thinking be harnessed in a way that also improves the agricultural professional’s day-to-day operations?

Berry Global’s Five-Pillar Approach to Sustainable Agricultural Films

The simple answer is ‘Yes’. When created with balance and focus, innovative and sustainable baling solutions can help improve day-to-day operations. To help ensure films produced for today’s users continue to meet high-performance standards across quality, functionality, user experience, innovation, and sustainability, Berry has developed a five-pillar approach for its Silotite bale wrap range.

This approach focuses on the waste hierarchy principles whilst placing quality and performance front and centre.

Consistent Quality: agricultural operations need the reassurance of consistent, high-quality silage film that can maintain integrity and protect valuable contents over time, regardless of harsh temperatures and humidity.

Berry’s high-quality protective films help minimise silage losses and spoilage, reduce feedstock waste, and maximise the duration of storage.

Downgauged Films: with a lower gauge film there is naturally a reduction in material usage, resulting in less plastic consumption per application and less material to recycle.

Berry’s ProTechnology reduces film thickness, maintains strength, and allows more film to be added to the roll, increasing the length per reel and reducing the number of reel changes and downtime for a more efficient wrapping process.

Reduced Packaging Waste: bale wrap is traditionally supplied in carton packaging, which can be bulky and heavy and needs to be recycled separately from the bale wrap inside. Another common complaint during wrapping is that boxes are left behind in the field.

By using polyethylene (PE) sleeves, Berry can use considerably less packaging material, reduce packaging waste, and simplify the disposal process. Berry’s patented PE sleeve packaging provides effective protection of reels and is recyclable alongside the bale wrap, eliminating the need for separation*. The physical properties of the sleeve also provide a more stable pallet during transport. Further efficiencies can be achieved by configuring the sleeve to open in-situ on the baler.

Film&Film: wrapped bales are typically bound with netwrap, which is difficult to recycle and can become entangled within the silage. Berry’s alternative netwrap solution, Baletite®, is a recyclable baler film that can be disposed of alongside the balewrap, without the need for separation*.

Additionally, with a full layer of plastic around the circumference, bales keep their shape better as they are more tightly compressed. This prevents bales from expanding, which could allow oxygen ingress and silage spoilage. The baler film also offers improved functionality benefits, such as being easier to open, while its smooth film finish cleanly peels away from the surface of the silage.

Inclusion of Recycled Content: as one of Europe's largest recyclers of polythene film, Berry understands the benefits of utilising recycled content and works to deliver more sustainable alternatives to existing products by substituting virgin material with recycled content where possible.

The company’s latest addition to the Silotite range, Silotite Pro 1800 Sustane®, incorporates 25% post-consumer recycled content (PCR).

Together We Can Be More

As part of Berry’s More Together initiative, its product development teams work alongside customers to develop solutions that balance sustainability and functionality. The Silotite range helps meet the needs of Berry’s agricultural customers with sustainable packaging solutions that combine consistent quality with an improved environmental profile.

* Recyclable where PE film collections exist