Farmers urged to get rid of unwanted chemicals

Agrecovery will be holding a chemical collection in the Bay of Plenty which can pick up those which may be hiding in sheds around the region.

Bay of Plenty farmers and horticulture growers may be able to get rid of chemicals for free through Agrecovery's Rural Recycling upcoming collection.

Jason Richards from Agrecovery said it was able to provide the service largely free of charge, due to the financial support of its 64 manufacturers and distributors.

"While we can't guarantee all booked chemicals will be free or subsidised, our funding tends to cover the majority of bookings."

In 2014-15 financial year, more than 1500 kilograms of agrichemicals were collected from Bay of Plenty, making up about 10 per cent of the national volume, he said.

"Despite the large volumes collected over the years, we know there are still properties with unwanted chemicals.

"We'd like to see those farmers and growers follow their neighbours' lead and book them in for our upcoming collection.

"Typically we hear from farmers who are leaving a property and need to get rid of expired products, or new owners who find unknown chemicals in sheds."

There was also a large portion of users who did not want to leave unwanted chemicals lying around.

Nationally more than 90,000kg of potentially harmful chemicals had been collected over the last seven years, he said.

Meanwhile it was also urging people to take advantage of the Great DDT Muster which would collect persistent organic pollutants like DDT and Lindane for free.

They were widely used in the 1950s to 1970s but had been banned from sale and use due to their known health risks, he said.

Chemical collection:

* Chemicals for both Agrecovery and The Great DDT Muster can be booked via www.agrecovery.co.nz and will be collected at the same time. Bookings need to be completed by August 26. Both programmes are easy to use, safe, fully compliant, and offer a fully auditable record of disposal. To learn more, visit the Agrecovery website or thegreatddtmuster.co.nz.