Queensland’s agricultural sector has an established history of managing its waste streams effectively, ranging from value-add products on-farm to combat food waste through to organics and nutrient recycling, and bioenergy production. The sector is always improving efficiencies from the production of agriculture commodities using minimum external resources, closing nutrient loops, and reducing wastes and contaminant releases to the environment. Our sector continues to adopt innovative and practical solutions for the management of farm wastes, resources and by-products.
At the forefront of these efforts, are the ChemClear and DrumMUSTER collections operated by AgSafe which collect and safely dispose of unwanted, unidentifiable, and obsolete chemicals as well as empty chemical containers from farmers across Australia. ClemClear is facilitating chemical collections in Queensland during July and August. Group 1 eligible drumMUSTER chemicals are included in the collections free of charge and following advocacy by the agriculture sector, including the Queensland Farmers’ Federation (QFF), the collection of group 2 chemicals will also be co-funded by the Queensland Department of Environment and Science. We welcome the state government’s support and encourage farmers and other chemical holders to register their chemicals for collection with ChemClear by 13 June 2021. As a result, a significant quantity of products will be removed and safety disposed of, minimising the potential hazard these chemicals could represent.
The Queensland agricultural sector continues to recognise the importance of farm sustainability by demonstrating stewardship of the resources it uses, maximising recycling opportunities and the correct disposal for the waste it produces. It is important that the waste and recycling industry, governments and agricultural industries continue to work together, as they have in this instance, to remove barriers to the collection and recovery of recoverable resources, develop cost effective and environmentally efficient processes for material capture in the future and ensure safe disposal for hazardous wastes. We must all be pulling in the same direction to ensure a bright future for the environment and the state’s agriculture sector.
For more information about the upcoming ChemClear collection and to register your chemicals, visit www.chemclear.org.au, call 1800 008 182 or contact Chemclear’s Queensland Regional Consultant Colin Hoey on 0428 964 576.