Increased scrutiny from consumers and the wider community means responsible waste disposal and good farm environmental management practices are more important than ever if farmers are to maintain consumer confidence.
In June 2015, a Cowra vineyard operator was convicted and fined $15,000 in Orange Local Court and ordered to pay the prosecutor’s costs of $20,000, after pleading guilty to polluting waters on an estate near Orange.
The NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) prosecuted the operator after the residue from 21 drums, containing the pesticide chlorpyrifos, was emptied into a constructed stormwater drain on the estate in January 2014. The drain flows downwards to Summer Hill Creek.
In another example of irresponsible disposal, the Victorian EPA fined an Echuca man for setting industrial waste, including plastic drums, on fire on a site not permitted to receive it in June 2015. The man was fined $1771 for burning the waste.
drumMUSTER and ChemClear are perfectly placed to provide Australian farmers with a simple and cost effective way to keep their farms clean and protect the environment.
Collection of Group 1 chemicals is free to waste holders due to a levy applied at the point of sale. Alternatively, had the operator in Orange registered the chemicals as ‘unknown, unlabelled, expired or no longer registered for use’ (Group 2 eligible), it would have cost him $3500 including freight to dispose of them in a safe manner.
In the second case, the operator could have delivered his plastic drums only kilometres away at the Echuca Environment Centre, one of 789 drumMUSTER collection sites available across Australia.
drumMUSTER is free to users, thanks again to a levy paid on eligible products by participating chemical companies who have signed onto the stewardship program and collect the levy at the point of sale.
We encourage all chemical users to accept their responsibilities to dispose of chemicals and empty containers in an environmentally sustainable manner to protect the environment and avoid legal action and costly fines.
For more information visit www.drummuster.com.au
*Copy provided by Agsafe
