Thousands of out-of-date and unwanted agvet chemicals have been registered for disposal through ChemClear to be collected in its scheduled NSW run next month.
It’s not too late to register, with the booking line scheduled to close on Friday 14th September.
The ChemClear truck will visit Albury, Harden, Bombala, Moree, Cobar, Coonamble, Port Macquarie and many other towns in between during its state wide run in October.
So far more than 19,000 litres of agvet chemical has been registered through the program from 149 waste holders.
Chemical registrations have come in from 58 local councils across NSW.
“This year we are receiving registrations for disposal from a broad range of council zones across the state,” ChemClear’s National Manager Lisa Nixon said.
“It’s comforting to know that we have so many responsible chemical users who are taking this opportunity to clear their farms, properties and businesses of potentially hazardous chemicals.”
Shelly Nutley from Bogan’s Gate in the Parkes Shire Council said she’s keen to offload her sheep spray that went out of date a few months ago.
“We had them stored in our chemical shed, but through our QA program we now use very little chemical,” she said.
“We were advised not to use it, so we had to get rid of the chemical. What else are you going to do with it?”
Shelly’s chemicals will be collected free under the stewardship program because they were produced from one of the 97 manufacturers participating in the drumMUSTER and ChemClear programs.
For Michael Earle in Harden, who has about 80 litres of unknown chemical in his shed, it was about doing the right thing and decided to clear out his stocks for the upcoming collection run.
Michael uses fungicides and pesticide for growing high quality turf for his polo operation.
“We tend to do get rid of our chemicals through ChemClear on a regular basis,” he said. “We got rid of some chemicals two years ago. The back of my ute was full of chemicals.”
With no way of finding out what the chemicals are because the labels had rusted off, Michael will have to pay for disposal. But he said he didn’t mind, as long as these chemicals are off the land.
“We can’t have these chemicals lying around. It’s an OHS issue for us,” he said.
“ChemClear is very convenient, it is a problem on farms, people used to just throw them in a hole and bury them.”
About 9,350 litres of chemical registered through ChemClear have been classified as either unknown or come from companies not participating in the program.
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”.
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.
Over the 12 months last year the program cleared and disposed of 76,000 litres of chemical in several state collections throughout Australia from waste holders who no longer had use for their stocks.
Since 2003, the program has collected 341,000 litres of chemicals through State and regional collections, with 98% of the chemical being used as an alternative fuel source in the manufacturing of cement. Most of the material is destroyed in kilns which reach temperatures in excess of 1,800°C.
To register your unwanted chemicals call ChemClear’s hotline on 1800 008 182 or visit www.chemclear.com.au.
ChemClear NSW October run. The statistics so far:
Highest amount of Group 1 (free) chemical registered: 2546 litres from a Narrabri reseller.
Lowest amount registered: 450ml of Group 2 chemical from a responsible farmer in Wagga Wagga.
Highest amount registered: 5600 litres of Group 2 from a business in Bourke.
Total amount of chemicals registered: 19,544.33 litres across NSW.
07/09/012