It seems like round two for Queenslanders needing the services of the ChemClear program after the state has once again been battered by historic storms and floods.
Since late last year, ChemClear has been planning its 2013 collection for Queensland which was scheduled to start in June.
ChemClear’s National Program Manager Lisa Nixon thought they were headed for a dry run before severe weather hit most of the state this month.
Lisa said the program’s next collection will now be crucial after the devastating floods.
“We were gearing up for a relatively quiet run through Queensland this year but it seems that the timing of our collection will now coincide with the huge clean up that property owners are now faced with,” she said.
“Once again our ChemClear team is ready and willing to help farmers and other agvet chemical users to dispose of chemicals that have been damaged, inherited or are simply not used anymore.”
It’s been two years since ChemClear responded to demand for its services after the devastating floods that hit in 2011. Since that collection another 37,500 litres of unwanted or out-of-date agvet chemical has been registered through the program for disposal.
Lisa said their last run in Queensland was the program’s most successful.
“Our post 2011 flood collection included a Flood Recovery program where funding from the Queensland Government was provided to ChemClear to disperse to people needing assistance in the disposal of damaged and inherited agvet chemicals,” she said.
“This funding provided much needed assistance to farmers and other community members who had found agvet chemicals after they had been washed downstream or had stockpiles of damaged products.”
The joint industry government initiative was able to collect and dispose of over 52,700lt of hazardous agvet chemical that may have otherwise ended up buried in landfills.
ChemClear is an industry stewardship program which collects and disposes agvet chemical products from 99 manufacturers under a levy that is applied at the point of sale.
More than 15,500lt of these products are already registered for this year’s collection and will be collected at no charge.
Non- participating manufacturers products, unlabelled containers, severely out of date chemicals and mixed chemicals can be collected through ChemClear for disposal under a fee per litre charge.
ChemClear encourages all property owners to check out their sheds and register any unwanted agvet chemicals with the program to be collected in the June pick-ups before the registration line closes on 19th April.
“There is always a bottle or container of something lurking around in sheds that people are nervous about, or have inherited, and have no idea what the chemicals constitution is,” Lisa said.
“I encourage people to register their chemicals with us where you’re guaranteed to know that you are disposing of that chemical appropriately.”
This collection will be ChemClear’s fifth in the state with the last five runs collecting over 112 tonne of unwanted agvet chemicals.
The booking line for this year’s collection closes on the 19th April.
To register for the next collection or for any further information, call 1800 008 182.