For years, farmers and other AgVet chemical users had few options for disposing used containers.
Consequently, they were dumped, buried or burnt.
Enter product stewardship, a whole-of-life-cycle approach to ethical management of agvet products, from the manufacture though to their use and end-of-life disposal.
Agsafe's AgVet chemical product stewardship programs, drumMUSTER and ChemClear, divert used containers and obsolete chemicals from landfill, re-routing them into recycling and responsible disposal pathways that assist in keeping land and waterways safe.
Since operations began in 1998, more than 38,000 tonnes of unwanted plastics have been diverted from landfill sites into recycling programs. This equates to 34 million agvet containers. There are more than 800 collection sites across Australia including more than 350 council sites.
Once the containers are collected, they are shredded and granulated, processed into pellets, then reused to make wheelie bins, fencing, pipes, bollards, road markers and public furniture.
"Farm businesses who frequent drumMUSTER sites are setting a good example of how the simple act of recycling can keep land and waterways cleaner and litter-free, and communities safer," Agsafe general manager Dominique Doyle said.
Drop by the drumMUSTER site at ANFD to have a chat about the program or to pick up a handy drum spanner.
- Visit www.drummuster.org.au or call 1800 008 707.
- Site: E-52.