Manitoba farmers have a new reason to gather up used plastic baler twine this winter. Cleanfarms has launched the province's first Great Twine Round-Up Contest, which runs from 1 November 2026 to 31 May 2027.
Participants collect clean used twine, bag it and take it to a participating Cleanfarms collection site in Manitoba. After drop-off they take a selfie with their bags and submit it with their contact details on the contest website. Each qualifying entry is a chance to win one of four $3,000 prizes, paid to the winner's chosen local 4-H club or Manitoba agricultural charity, $12,000 in all.
Baler twine is a constant on livestock and forage farms, and getting rid of it once bales are opened is a nuisance. The contest is meant to make recycling part of the farm routine and keep the plastic out of landfill and the environment. Cleanfarms says the collected twine can be made into car parts, flower pots and composite lumber.
"This is one part of a larger network of recycling opportunities here that extends to grain bags and crop input packaging," said Shane Hedderson, Cleanfarms' executive director. Duncan Morrison, executive director of the Manitoba Forage and Grassland Association, which backs the scheme, said Manitoba farmers are always interested in efforts that go back to the local farm community.
The scheme copies Alberta's Great Twine Round-Up, now in its third year. In January 2026, Cleanfarms Alberta adviser Davin Johnson said farmers and ranchers had brought about 4.5 million kilograms of farm plastics into the wider Alberta programme since it began, which he likened to about 267 semi-trailers of grain bags and 40 trailers of baler twine.
There are two draws. Early-bird entries close on 31 January 2027, with a draw on 8 February and winners told by 19 February. The final deadline is 31 May 2027, with the draw on 7 June and winners told by 14 June. Collection sites and rules are on the Great Twine Round-Up website.
Photo: Tim Houlihan / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Source: Farms.com
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