The time has come to clean-up your shed of left-over agvet chemicals as registrations start to pile up for this year’s ChemClear state-wide collection.
To keep up with growing demand the national agvet chemical waste disposal scheme has scheduled a state-wide NSW collection for October.
Now is the time for growers, turf managers and other chemical users to prepare an inventory and register their unwanted agvet chemicals for collection and disposal through the program before the booking line closes on 14 September.
So far more than 23 tonnes of chemical have been registered for disposal from just under 100 chemical users across the state.
Nearly 7.5 tonnes of the current registration pool of chemicals will be collected free under the stewardship program because the chemicals come from one of the 94 manufacturers participating in the drumMUSTER and ChemClear programs.
The remaining chemicals are from companies not participating in the Industry Waste Reduction Scheme, ChemClear. Fortunately ChemClear can collect and dispose of these chemicals but there is a per litre fee attached to the disposal. These chemicals are classified as “Group 2”.
Lisa Nixon Program Manager said ChemClear was established in 2003 to support chemical waste derived from the present agvet chemical manufacturing industry.
“The objective of the program was to set a levy on the chemicals at the point of manufacturer and pass the levy down onto consumers at the point of sale,” Lisa said.
“This was to ensure any surplus chemical had a distinctive pathway for disposal preventing a build up of waste with the potential to harm the industry, people and the environment.”
ChemClear has been funded over the last four NSW state collections to support farmers disposing of Group 2 chemicals. Unfortunately there is no funding available for this collection round.
“Farmers have had a pretty good run with Government funding support in NSW over the last four years. This year unfortunately they have to run solo,” she said.
“If growers and businesses are holding Group 2 chemicals we can collect them, that’s no problem, but there will be a fee for disposal payable by the litre. Once farmers get rid of their historic chemicals we hope that they never get themselves back in the position of holding onto chemicals that little bit too long and therefore missing out on our free disposal program.”
Last year the program cleared 76,000 litres of chemical from waste holders who no longer had use for their stocks.
ChemClear National Program Manager Lisa Nixon said users looking for ways to get rid of their unused, out-of date or inherited chemicals should register.
“Now is the time to clean up before the harvest season starts,” she said. “This year in NSW we are aiming to retrieve around 15,000 litres of our member company’s products for safe disposal.”
Lisa also reminded chemical waste holders to do the right thing by following the ‘Ute It, Don’t Boot It’ campaign.
“Waste holders should transport hazardous chemicals on the open tray of a truck, ute or trailer, not in the boot or in the back seat. People should secure their load appropriately before heading off to meet the ChemClear vehicle at the designated retrieval point.”
Since 2003 more than 86 tonnes of chemical waste has been disposed of by ChemClear in NSW.
Once collected, 98% of the chemicals are used as an alternative fuel source such as cement manufacturing plants. The remaining 2%, like arsenics and cyanides, are treated and destroyed by Plasma Arc technology.
To register your unwanted chemicals call ChemClear’s hotline on 1800 008 182 or visit www.chemclear.com.au.
16/08/2012