2,4,5-T among chemicals handed in for disposal in Napier

Some of the items unloaded at the council's HazMobile events. Photo / Supplied

A pesticide with links to the Vietnam War has been handed in a HazMobile hazardous materials collection in Napier.

But the only surprise to veteran Auckland disposer of unwanted chemicals Ray McGregor was that the 2,4,5-T was that it came in an urban collection. Its production stopped in 1987 after years of protest over toxicity and its use as rainbow pesticide Agent Pink in Vietnam.

He said he had seen lots of it in drums in past collections from farms across Hawke's Bay, but a 20-litre container in a collection in Napier was rare.

He conjectured that a farmer retiring and moving to town intended to use it for defoliating unnecessary growth around the new home but realised at some stage it wasn't necessary.

"In town, even five litres could go a long way," said Mr McGregor, who with his son operates R and S McGregor Ltd in Auckland and who has worked with the HBRC for many years on gathering and getting rid of hazardous waste.

Neither he nor former Hawke's Bay Regional Council hazardous wastes adviser Fred King, a Vietnam veteran, had heard 2,4,5-T being referred to as Agent Pink until a media release from the Napier City and Hastings District councils yesterday. Mr McGregor was present for the collection project on November 12.

Napier council waste minimisation lead Rhett van Veldhuizen said the two boxes of chemical sachets containing Agent Pink was the "most startling" return in the collection. It was much better for the experts to take care of the disposal rather than having it "languishing in someone's garden shed".

More than 670 people across Napier and Hastings turned over unwanted materials, including several tonnes of paint, about 4500 litres of waste oil and unusable fuel, five 200-litre drums of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides, about 200 empty gas bottles thousands of batteries of all sizes, and pool chemicals and acids.

While HazMobile collections have been taking place for 10 years, councils say there are several others services available for disposal of waste and the containers.