South Dakota
South Dakota Company Recycles Plastic Into Fence Posts | Aberdeen Insider
Many farmers are frustrated with all of the plastic that clutters their farmyards.
Tarps from silage piles, plastic containers, net wrap, totes and drums pile up. It is estimated that 12.5 million tons of agricultural plastic are used annually in the U.S.
A company near Lennox transforms the plastic generated on farms and from other sources into something that every farm needs — 4-inch and 6-inch fence posts. It’s a brilliant example of waste reimagined.
Billy Pollema, vice president of sales for ZahnTech, said the company transforms waste plastic into a product needed by the ag market.
“We sell these posts nationwide, and some have gone to Florida and the Caribbean islands. In those places, they struggle with wood posts rotting due to the salt water and humidity, so this is a good fit for them,” Pollema said.
MORE: New agricultural business program will start next fall at Northern State
“Currently, the company processes 30,000 pounds of plastic daily,” he said. “We take it in, shred it, melt it and turn it into something useful. Our goal is to triple what we can process.”
People are thinking more about being sustainable and many want to get to zero waste. The company wants to rebrand recycling and change the way the world views garbage.
ZahnTech is eager to keep plastic out of the landfill.
“We encourage people to bring plastic to us from all over South Dakota. We are even getting some from Wyoming. Our company is partnering with farmers plus different industries. We take it all in as long as it is plastic. There are seven types of plastic in our formulation,” Pollema said.
Trucks constantly pull up to drop off their loads, he said.
“We take chemical jugs as long as they’ve been properly rinsed. We get thousands of barrels from ag companies during the summer and fall, plus plastic pallets,” Pollema said. “We’ve partnered with the city of Beresford to take their curbside pickup materials. Every two or three weeks, it comes to us in bales. They’ll dump it in our shed and we’ll take it from there. We do not accept liquids, glass, metal or hazardous chemicals.”
In addition to ag plastic, ZahnTech is getting semi loads of plastic waste from many industry partners, including Glanbia Nutritionals, which has locations all over the country. Recently, 10 semi-loads of Walmart bags were dropped off. That’s 500,000 pounds of bags waiting to be shredded.
The process uses a primary shredder and a secondary shredder, reducing the plastic to three-eighths inch. Then the material goes through the hot melt extruder and flows into molds for the 4-inch and 6-inch posts.
MORE: Latest 2024 farm income forecast shows overall decrease from 2023
There’s strong demand for the posts.
“We price them to be competitive with the wood market as farmers don’t want to pay more than they have to. ZahnTech is one of the few companies using this process. In addition to the company in New Zealand, there is one in Canada and one in Pennsylvania,” Pollema said.
He was at the recent Dakota Farm Show in Vermillion showing people the pros of using the posts and explaining what the company does. The plastic posts can replace the green-treated posts or posts treated with creosote to prevent rot. Wood posts normally need to be replaced every 10 years or sooner. ZahnTech information said testing shows their posts will last 100 years.
Business sparked by frustration from lack of plastic scrap recycling options
The owner, Avery Zahn, started the process, and Pollema shared Zahn’s story.
Zahn has owned a pipeline business. His frustration stemmed from the lack of plastic scrap recycling options, forcing him to take the materials to the landfill. After he sold his business, Zahn noticed the railroad ties around his horse arena were rotting and needed to be replaced. Remembering the unrecyclable plastic, he searched for a way to make something usable from it, such as fence posts. He found that in New Zealand, a company developed a process to do that.
“He bought his first extrusion machine from New York, brought it to South Dakota and started figuring out a way to melt the plastic and turn it into fence posts,” Pollema said “Avery tried different formulations and produced a composite to get the posts to the needed strength. After a year and a half of research and development, the company started making and selling products. That was a year and a half ago. It all started with Avery looking at the posts and deciding, ‘I’m going to come up with a better way.’”
The biggest cost for ZahnTech is electricity, with 3,000 amps of service coming into the production facility.
“It’s our major cost and it would be great if we could reduce that, maybe by using some solar power,” Pollema said.
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While the electricity is expensive, the plastic is free.
“People are looking for places to get rid of their plastic,” he said. “We are diverting as much from the landfill as possible. It’s a great selling point for our posts as people can see we are doing something good for the environment. For years, people buried plastic, and it will take years to degrade. Many people get behind what we are doing.”
ZahnTech produces 300 plastic fence posts per day
The company produces 300 posts a day with six people in the production line who do the shredding, bundling, receiving material and fabrication. In all, there are 11 employees.
The goal is to handle 40,000 to 50,000 pounds of plastic a day with the two main lines. When ZahnTech adds another line, it will be able to handle 60,000 to 70,000 pounds a day.
Currently, ZahnTech is transforming 98% of waste into sustainable products,” Zahn said.
“We’re not far from achieving our goal — 100% waste conversion. The company wants to build a greener, cleaner world, one fence post at a time,” he said.
On its website, ZahnTech claims its posts are 10 times stronger and 20 times more durable than wood. They are flexible and can be post-driven, cut, drilled, nailed, screwed, bolted or stapled. The posts are fire-resistant, non-conductive, won’t split or rot and are impenetrable by water, frost and pests, per the website. They can also be pulled up and repositioned.
Connie Sieh Groop of Frederick is a veteran journalist and writer who has focused on all aspects of the agriculture industry during her career.
The South Dakota Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big.
Here’s a look at March 4, 2026, results for each game:
Winning Powerball numbers from March 4 drawing
07-14-42-47-56, Powerball: 06, Power Play: 4
Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Lotto America numbers from March 4 drawing
33-38-39-47-51, Star Ball: 07, ASB: 02
Check Lotto America payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Dakota Cash numbers from March 4 drawing
02-18-22-30-32
Check Dakota Cash payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from March 4 drawing
12-13-36-39-58, Bonus: 03
Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your prize
- Prizes of $100 or less: Can be claimed at any South Dakota Lottery retailer.
- Prizes of $101 or more: Must be claimed from the Lottery. By mail, send a claim form and a signed winning ticket to the Lottery at 711 E. Wells Avenue, Pierre, SD 57501.
- Any jackpot-winning ticket for Dakota Cash or Lotto America, top prize-winning ticket for Lucky for Life, or for the second prizes for Powerball and Mega Millions must be presented in person at a Lottery office. A jackpot-winning Powerball or Mega Millions ticket must be presented in person at the Lottery office in Pierre.
When are the South Dakota Lottery drawings held?
- Powerball: 9:59 p.m. CT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Mega Millions: 10 p.m. CT on Tuesday and Friday.
- Lucky for Life: 9:38 p.m. CT daily.
- Lotto America: 9:15 p.m. CT on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Dakota Cash: 9 p.m. CT on Wednesday and Saturday.
- Millionaire for Life: 10:15 p.m. CT daily.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a South Dakota editor. You can send feedback using this form.
PIERRE — A bill from South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley to criminalize the creation or sharing of deepfakes was amended this week to more clearly define what constitutes nudity before it reaches Gov. Larry Rhoden’s desk.
The amendment, added on the floor of the House of Representatives, came in response to concerns about unintended consequences.
Senate Bill 41 creates a class of felony crime for the creation or distribution of images digitally altered to depict a person in a state of nudity or involved in a sexually explicit act, commonly referred to as deepfakes.
In testimony in the House Judiciary Committee on Monday in Pierre, Jackley pointed to the case of Mark Rathbun, a former Division of Motor Vehicles employee who is accused of taking images of women and girls from state databases and creating sexual images.“This is real, and it’s something that we unfortunately are seeing happen in our state,” Jackley said.
The judiciary committee voted 8-3 to send the bill to the House floor but not before a discussion on its potential to criminalize political memes.
The bill’s definition of nudity originally encompassed a partial state of nudity. Fort Pierre Republican Rep. Will Mortenson asked Jackley if that would include a fabricated topless photo. Jackley said yes. Then Mortenson asked if a fabricated image of Democratic Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker without a shirt, if shared by President Donald Trump on social media, would put the president in line for felony charges.
Jackley said a Pritzker image wouldn’t qualify because Pritzker is male, but Mortenson pushed back.
He noted that partially nude fabrications would be a felony if done with the intent to “self-gratify or alarm, annoy, embarrass, harass, invade the privacy of, threaten, or cause emotional, financial, physical, psychological, or reputational harm to that individual.”
Nothing in the bill specified that a person in a digitally fabricated topless image must be female.
“We just said that half-nude is a state of nudity, and so now he’s shirtless, and the point of this is to embarrass this guy,” Mortenson said of his topless Pritzker meme scenario.
Mortenson voted against the bill in committee but brought an amendment Tuesday to define nudity as inclusive of male or female genitalia, buttocks or the female nipple.
The amendment passed, but it did not address every concern about the bill.
Democratic Rep. Kadyn Wittman of Sioux Falls asked Jackley during the bill’s committee hearing why he didn’t use it to enhance penalties for people who film others in states of undress or participating in sexual activity against their will.
That behavior is a felony if it involves the recording of a minor, or if it happens repeatedly. The new penalties for deepfakes would be added to the same chapter of South Dakota law.
“Why is the first time hidden recording a misdemeanor generally, but a digitally fabricated image would automatically be a classified felony,” said Wittman.
Jackley said he feels that the creation of digitally manipulated sexual images, even if they aren’t shared, signals “significant criminal intent.” He told South Dakota Searchlight after the committee meeting that he’s open to addressing that issue, but that SB 41’s primary purpose was to target deepfakes.
On the House floor, Wittman was one of two representatives to say the bill’s felony penalties could be unnecessarily harsh in instances where young people make “a stupid decision” and create a deepfake.
“I feel like, in a lot of situations, this bill covers behavior that could be covered by a lower level of offense,” Wittman said.
Supporters countered that the creation of fake nudes can do real psychological damage to real people, and that the state needs to clearly signal that doing so is a serious crime.
“It’s only fun and games until it happens to you,” said Rep. Mary Fitzgerald, R-St. Onge.
The bill passed the House 60-6. It now moves to the state Senate, which passed the bill 32-0 on Jan. 16. The Senate would need to approve the amended version of the bill before it could be delivered to Gov. Larry Rhoden to sign or veto.
The South Dakota Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big.
Here’s a look at March 3, 2026, results for each game:
Winning Mega Millions numbers from March 3 drawing
07-21-53-54-62, Mega Ball: 16
Check Mega Millions payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from March 3 drawing
09-10-13-25-54, Bonus: 05
Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your prize
- Prizes of $100 or less: Can be claimed at any South Dakota Lottery retailer.
- Prizes of $101 or more: Must be claimed from the Lottery. By mail, send a claim form and a signed winning ticket to the Lottery at 711 E. Wells Avenue, Pierre, SD 57501.
- Any jackpot-winning ticket for Dakota Cash or Lotto America, top prize-winning ticket for Lucky for Life, or for the second prizes for Powerball and Mega Millions must be presented in person at a Lottery office. A jackpot-winning Powerball or Mega Millions ticket must be presented in person at the Lottery office in Pierre.
When are the South Dakota Lottery drawings held?
- Powerball: 9:59 p.m. CT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Mega Millions: 10 p.m. CT on Tuesday and Friday.
- Lucky for Life: 9:38 p.m. CT daily.
- Lotto America: 9:15 p.m. CT on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Dakota Cash: 9 p.m. CT on Wednesday and Saturday.
- Millionaire for Life: 10:15 p.m. CT daily.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a South Dakota editor. You can send feedback using this form.
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