As I reported Monday, the Joint Cotton Industry Bale Packaging Committee would be taking up the National Cotton Council policy on the elimination of Woven Polypropylene and Wire Ties at its meeting this week. The meeting, held yesterday, could not come to an agreement on a timeline for phasing out the materials. This will not eliminate the language or nullify the Council’s policy expressing the overall industry wishes to remove these two materials from the approved lists.
The JCIBPC Executive Committee has agreed to continue to meet regularly until a solution is agreed to and then bring it to the full committee for ratification. The members left the meeting without an agreement.
What does this mean? The Council’s language is”
“The cotton industry, through the JCIBPC, should work to remove woven polypropylene and wire ties as an approved bale packaging material and develop a reasonable phase out period for this material. The industry should investigate options for a more durable polyethylene bag and a lighter-weight cotton bag;”
The National Cotton Council Staff will continue to pursue this policy until and unless it is changed…this is unlikely for many reasons.
This language was adopted as a result of recommendations from the Council’s Strategic planning committee. This was just one of the recommendations that were adopted with the goal of improving the US cotton’s competitiveness vs other growths in the world. In other words holding onto and expanding our pieces of the world cotton trade. The goal is admirable… and if, on this issue, it is what the world wants, then we should respond.
The question then becomes how does this get translated in to something the industry can make long term plans with. That was where the committee came to logger heads. Some segments feel this should be a quick and easy switch and were pushing for a short term… others were pushing for a more market based approach encouraging the market forces to drive these changes.
The long and the short is that these materials will likely be eliminated eventually. We’ll continue to push for as long as transition as we can but will not be able to push it out indefinitely. Our Board adopted a policy in January that allowed for the eventual elimination of Woven PP bags but to allow market forces to drive the usage of wire ties. Opposing the elimination of wire as an approved material until it is no longer in use as has been done with other materials in the past.
There was a lot of discussion on the use of cotton bagging. There is only one approved cotton bag in the US but it is quite heavy and prohibitively expensive. Australia is 100% or nearly so PET strapping and cotton bags. Bags similar to those used in other countries will be tested this coming season by the National Cotton Council. These field trials are limited to small quantities and until a mfg or distributor comes with a test program, will continue to be small. Full approval is a multi year process.
Bottom line…if you’re using Woven PP and/or Wire Ties. It’s time to explore alternatives. Talk to your merchant and mill customers and find out what they want and why. Develop a timeline understanding that the Committee’s timeline may not match up with your’s once the committee comes to a consensus. I know this is not great news but while we’re pushing to keep as much flexibility as possible as long as possible, we need to keep you informed.
Email or call me if you have questions.