Dallon Leger thought he was part of the solution.聽
The entrepreneur from Yorkton, Sask., about 190 kilometres northeast of Regina, says he collected more than 1.8 million kilograms of used grain bags over the past few years, helping his neighbours deal with their mounting plastic problem.
Leger鈥檚 business, EcoGenX, transported the grain bags to a company in the United States that would recycle them. The company would turn the bags into various agricultural plastic products, including new grain bags. EcoGenX would then sell the recycled product in Saskatchewan.
But he says the Saskatchewan government has stifled his business through rules he believes are unfair.
The province recently took Leger to court and won, fining him for not following the province鈥檚 grain bag regulations. It effectively forced him to close his business.
鈥淚鈥檓 not perfect, no entrepreneur is, but my government was my biggest hurdle,鈥� said Leger, a farm worker, in an interview earlier this month. 鈥淭hat should never have happened, not when climate change and environment as a whole is the hot topic right now.鈥�
Leger pleaded guilty in late April for failing to comply with the government鈥檚 Agricultural Packaging Waste Stewardship Regulations, therefore violating a section of Saskatchewan鈥檚 Environment and Management Protection Act.聽
Court determined he did not operate a product stewardship program that was approved by the environment minister. He was fined $580 and must pay $10,604 to Cleanfarms, a regulated non-profit that also collects grain bags in the province.
Leger explained his lawyer advised him to plead guilty because it wouldn鈥檛 have been a winning fight.聽
However, he said the province鈥檚 position is still not right.
鈥淗ow can you charge me under the environmental act, find me guilty of anything, when I did no harm to the environment? That says a lot,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 felt I did something good."
The Saskatchewan government regulates the industry, requiring grain bag sellers to participate in an approved product stewardship program.
EcoGenX didn鈥檛 operate under an approved program.
Environment Minister Dana Skoropad said the legislation is meant to ensure agricultural plastics recycling is sustainable in Saskatchewan.聽
鈥淭he community of sellers of these products is quite small in Saskatchewan, so it鈥檚 certainly important that all first sellers be compliant with the regulations and a level playing field be existent,鈥� Skoropad said. 鈥淎nd that ensures the financial stability and sustainability of the program.鈥澛�
Cleanfarms is the only approved product stewardship program in Saskatchewan, which means grain bag sellers must work with Cleanfarms or get their own program rubber-stamped if they want to participate.聽
Under the Cleanfarms program, farmers can deliver bags to more than 40 collection points set up by the organization.
Sellers collect an environment handling fee when they sell the bags. The sellers then remit those fees to Cleanfarms so the organization can operate its collection sites.
Leger didn鈥檛 remit environmental handling fees to Cleanfarms when he sold bags, arguing he didn鈥檛 need to because his company did all the work in partnership with the American recycler.聽
鈥淚 would travel anywhere in the province, roll up their bags. I would do all the work,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 had the best answer for this fairly large problem -- 聽like it鈥檚 a significant amount of plastic.鈥�
The $10,604 Leger is required to pay to Cleanfarms represents the environmental handling fees he was supposed to pay to the organization.聽
Skoropad said he鈥檚 open to working with anyone who would meet the requirements in the legislation.聽
He said Leger did not submit a proposal.
However, Leger said he tried to work with the provincial government but was told the province was not interested in another operator.聽
鈥淚鈥檓 told, 鈥榃e have to focus on the sustainability of the current approved program,'" he said. 鈥淲ell, I鈥檓 sorry I鈥檓 a threat to this non-profit organization. That鈥檚 kind of what a business is meant to do, is grow and succeed.鈥�
Leger accused the government of siding with Cleanfarms, pointing to past lobbying by CropLife Canada, a sister organization of Cleanfarms.聽
In 2016, CropLife representatives lobbied Saskatchewan ministers about 鈥減romoting the benefits of industry stewardship programs.鈥� It noted Cleanfarms had been active in the province.聽
CropLife, which is based in Ontario, lobbied former environment minister Scott Moe, who鈥檚 now premier, and former agriculture minister Lyle Stewart. Ted Menzies, CropLife鈥檚 former president, was among those lobbying. Menzies had previously served as a Conservative MP and cabinet minister before moving to CropLife.聽
In 2018, the province鈥檚 Agricultural Packaging Waste Stewardship Regulations came into effect.聽
鈥淚 believe this created a monopoly and gives an out-of-province organization 100 per cent of the money that Saskatchewan farmers pay,鈥� Leger said.
Skorpopad denied the accusations. 聽
鈥淐leanfarms submitted an application to be a product stewardship operator and that would be the extent of my knowledge of that,鈥� he said. 鈥淎s I said before, we鈥檙e open to working with anyone who would meet the requirements of the regulations on this program.鈥�
Skoropad said he doesn鈥檛 know if there have been previous applications to become an operator. He said there are 14 regulated grain bag sellers in Saskatchewan.聽
Leger said he has plans to continue fighting his case.聽
鈥淚 was demonized, so to me that鈥檚 worth continuing to fight for and why I didn鈥檛 give up."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 28, 2023.聽
Jeremy Simes, The Canadian Press
