South Australian chemical users are being urged to do the right thing by the environment and themselves by registering for the upcoming ChemClear collection run.
To be held from late May until early June, the route undertaken by the ChemClear truck will be determined by demand in each shire council region. National Program Manager Lisa Nixon will be organising the extensive ‘milk run’ across SA and she believes it is vital that users know just how crucial it is to safely dispose of their unwanted or obsolete agvet chemicals.
“The booking line for this collection closes on April 21, so we encourage farmers and ag and vet chemical users to check out their storages and register their products for collection and disposal in this big South Australian round-up,” Ms. Nixon said.
“It is dangerous to leave these products unattended year-on-year and it can be expensive to dispose of them if they fall out of registration by two years. Under our stewardship program, group one chemicals are collected free of charge up to two years from expiry or de-registration.”
“We most certainly encourage farmers to take an inventory of their products and get that into our booking line for sorting into group one and group two categories.”
ChemClear provides a truly valuable national service to waste holders, with the retrieval team travelling between shire councils all over Australia to help collect and safely dispose of both group one and two chemicals. Group one chemicals are currently-registered product from participating manufacturers and are accepted free of charge, while group two involves materials that are unlabelled, unregistered or obsolete, and include a fee-per-litre for disposal.
Last time the ChemClear service visited South Australia in 2008, the results were encouraging, but Ms. Nixon firmly believes that users should take further advantage of the free disposal of group one chemical. A grand total of just over 3,000 litres of the group one category was collected, while there was more than 5,000 litres of group two received.
“At this stage of our booking line process we have registrations of group one exceeding 4,500 litres, while there are over 15,000 litres of group two chemicals booked in,” Ms. Nixon said.
“Add these classifications together and so far we have waste holders willing to bring in over 20 tonnes of unwanted and unknown ag and vet chemical waste. I am sure nearly every farmer or agricultural business will be holding onto unwanted chemicals that may have resulted from end of use, purchasing too much in one season or simply finding or inheriting chemical.
“ChemClear is a great way of disposing of these products as our specialised retrieval vehicle will be collecting in farmers’ regional areas, which ensures these products can be transported to the collection point and disposed of both safely and environmentally.
To register for the ChemClear program and to get involved in this historic South Australian collection, simply call 1800 008 182 or log on to www.chemclear.com.au.