When Kyalite Pistachios was considering a sustainable solution for disposal of the last remaining area of sprinkler irrigation at its ‘Rivernook’ orchard, plus extra poly and dripper line kept in storage from previous upgrades, the industry’s leading recovery and recycling program largely became a “no-brainer”.

Pistachios are grown over 400 hectares on the Sunraysia property, which is situated on the southern New South Wales border near Tooleybuc and south of Balranald.

Plantings at ‘Rivernook’ commenced from the mid-80s, with later significant developments occurring over 2006–07, in 2016 and again last year, on the way to expanding the orchard to a 450ha capacity.

The pistachio trees produce a solid harvest from around six to seven years-of-age and mature yields from the age of 12.

Andrew Bowring, who has chalked-up 27 years with the Kyalite Pistachios partnership enterprise, said the last area of under-tree sprinkler irrigation was converted to dripper line earlier last year, resulting in 230 kilometres of 19-millimetre poly to be disposed of.

This added to another 50km of poly and 20km of dripper line stored on the property since earlier conversions.

“We replaced some dripper line to reduce the output,” Mr Bowring said.

He said they converted to a complete Netafim dripper line and fertigation system, including filtration and irrigation control, which matched the dripper line used across the remainder of the orchard.

“It was on some heavier soil types, where we wanted to reduce the output. The spacing between the emitters and the output has reduced and it’s working well.”

Similar to almond trees, the pistachios will receive 12–14 megalitres/ha over a season, incorporating daily irrigation and fertigation over summer.

Mr Bowring said the new irrigation investment made the Netafim Recoil recycling program for the old poly and dripper line an easy decision.

The program incorporates hire of a Netafim Recoil machine for a fee of $100 per day, which recoils poly or dripper line into dense, donut-shaped bundles, and transport to Netafim’s Australian recycling partners.

The high-quality recycled resin, if suitable, is used in the production of Netafim’s ‘Regen’ irrigation products as part of a closed-loop manufacturing system, or by other manufacturers of plastic products, providing a circular economy model to tackle unwanted plastic accumulating in the landscape.

The poly and dripper line from Kyalite Pistachios added up to 27 tonnes, with the resulting resin earmarked for plastics manufacturers.

“We always knew we wanted to do something linked with recycling, but previously there was no easy opportunity to get it off-farm,” Mr Bowring said.

“Sustainability is now a strong focus for the industry, and it makes you feel good that you are doing the right thing and planning your pathway on a sustainability front.

“Netafim is well out in front in the industry with this program.”

He said without it, they were faced with hiring or building a machine to help dispose of the poly and dripper line that later would have sat in the shed, as well as finding a recycler in the market and paying for freighting it off the farm.

“With Netafim Recoil, the machine is purpose-built with all the guards, easing any concern with operators. That was our strong feel – this thing is just purpose-built and has all the procedures. It’s very well done. We just had to pay the freight from farm to factory.

“We recoiled the majority of the poly and dripper line in 12 days,” Andrew said.

Netafim Recoil machines are based in areas where there is high demand for the service across Australia and are available to hire through approved Netafim resellers.

Netafim also tracks all consignments and recycling outcomes, culminating in a credible Certificate of Recycling for service users.