Innovation win: From plastic waste to a stronger fence post

Danny Farkash is a natural-born tinkerer. The Vermilion, Alta., farm operator has been rigging up new inventions from the time he could grasp a screwdriver.

Today, he’s most proud of his latest invention: a one-of-a-kind machine that takes plastics such as grain bags and pond liners and turns them into fence posts stronger than fir wood in a low-emissions process.

A passionate recycler at heart, he receives his raw materials for free and typically pumps out 500 posts a day. He is driven by his passion for leaving the world in a better state.

Coming up with the idea

A man I know who worked at a local retailer and for [Vermilion River] County said to me, “Somebody needs to do something about this plastic,” since only 20% of agricultural plastics were being recycled. I was already making free-standing cattle fences out of recycled steel and I thought I could similarly recycle grain bags. At the same time, farm operators need good fence posts that don’t rot out after a few years – they get really mad about that.

So the question was: If we need a product that’s not available right now, could we do it at a price to make a business out of it and clean up the environment at the same time? The answer was yes.

How does it work?

We roll up one tonne of plastic into tight bales and load them into a 30-foot pipe. The unit is powered by discarded scrap wood from the oil patch and heats the plastic to 500 degrees Celsius. Thanks to a double-burn chamber inside the unit, virtually zero emissions are produced. It’s a very clean burn.

My goal is to go through 10 tons of plastic a day, which would produce about 500 posts a day. Each post weighs about 45 pounds.

Why do this at all?

Why do people climb mountains? Maybe someone said they couldn’t. Maybe they want to see the view from a different area. We need to clean up the world but I thought we could do it in a way that nobody else has done it before. Many want to get rid of plastic but I think that plastic enhances so much of our lives; we should just find a better way to recycle it. If we don’t change how we do things, we’re going to run out of natural resources.

Work smarter to be more profitable

You don’t have to change the economy; you just have to change your economy.I like to take old ideas and do it in a new way. In the farming sector, we used to go over the land five times. Now, we hook two pieces of equipment together and go over the land once or twice. We save fuel, time and the environment. That’s using old technology in a new way. You don’t have to just do one thing and have it make all the money. You don’t have to change the economy; you just have to change your economy.

Advice to farm operator entrepreneurs

Always look for opportunities to do what you’re passionate about. When I built my yard and needed a backhoe, I bought my own, did the work and then did custom work for others. It paid for itself many times over. I’ve done that with multiple pieces of equipment. Whatever business you’re in, make it your business and eventually, you’ll end up with ownership.

Concentrate on what happens after the work too. The work itself is temporary but the results last way longer. I think people would be a lot more ambitious if they focused more on the results. I think about my crew as well. I share the profits from making fence posts with them and that gives me a great amount of satisfaction.

There’s new stuff to be discovered yet. There are new ways of doing things that are going to change the world for everybody. But if we don’t keep chasing these things, the world suffers because of it.

What keeps you going?

I get depressed sometimes like everyone else does. I’m motivated when someone tells me I can’t do something. I seem to get an extra run of energy from it. It’s also about doing something that nobody’s ever done before.

I believe it’s really important to reward yourself when you succeed. It doesn’t have to be too big, but it has to be something because that’s what stimulates your ambition.

From an AgriSuccess article as told to Trevor Bacque.