ChemClear

ChemClear's Victorian collection run has been dubbed a great success, with well over 13,000 litres of ag and vet chemicals secured for disposal. Around 35 Shire Councils provided host sites for the program to collect from throughout the four-week campaign.

Encompassing rural locations across the state, the distinctive ChemClear truck rounded up a variety of products such as cyanide, arsenics, round-up, lucijet and dieldrin among others.

Just over 7,000 litres of group one was collected from 114 waste holders for disposal and just under 6,000 litres of group two was acquired from 91 waste holders.

Under the program group one products are currently-registered chemical from participating manufacturers and are accepted free of charge, while group two involve materials that are unlabelled, unregistered or obsolete, and include a fee per litrefor disposal.

One of the more interesting deliveries to take place was that completed by Warnambool farmer Stephen Lucas, who brought in some 'vintage' arsenic to the Mortlake site.

"It sort of moved from farm to farm, it has been sitting in the back corner of the shed for a long time, and we used it as sheep dip," Mr. Lucas said.

"We've had it for about 60 years, we just haven't had a way to get rid of it properly before. It's a great service, because it encourages people to get rid of their potentially hazardous products and it's pretty well-run and organised as well."

At the Hamilton collection, local farmer and journalist Ian Whiting contributed over 450 litres of both group one and two chemicals.

Mr. Whiting was pleased with both the efficiency and excellent customer service skills of the disposal team.

"It's a fantastic service, the staff and everything were really good and very efficient," he said.

"I brought in two extra chemicals that I hadn't mentioned in my manifest on the day and they were quite happy to take care of it for me. The collection went very well."

ChemClear Program Manager Lisa Nixon is extremely proud of the assistance the stewardship initiative gives to waste holders.

"Waste holders are so relieved to pass on their chemicals knowing that they are going to be disposed of responsibly," Mrs. Nixon said.

"As part of our promise to deliver a full cycle stewardship program, we also collect historic chemicals on behalf of the ag vet chemical industry. It's very unfortunate that the manufacturers of these types of chemicals, arsenics, cyanides and other 'nasties' are long gone, as it ensures a pretty hefty cost to have them collected by the custodian of the products, whether they are the original owner or an inherited one.

"This year we have lobbied state governments to support farmers disposing of this type of chemical. We were successful in NSW but not in Victoria and Tasmania, which has been disappointing not only to farmers that would have benefitted from such assistance, but to ChemClear, as you see waste holders drop out of the registration process due to cost and they may never return to such a safe disposal program like ours. These products are returned to sheds and stored for more years creating a higher cost to the individual and in turn the industry."

"But we are succeeding with ChemClear, which is a big positive for the ag vet chemical industry and a success that we can all be proud of."