The Peace Country numbers are out.
CleanFarms collected obsolete and unwanted pesticides and expired livestock and equine medications in September 2016 during its annual free round-up program.
CleanFarms GM Barry Friesen. (Photo/Twitter)
Farmers in the Peace Region brought in 19.871 kilograms of pesticides and 450 kilograms of old meds
The AM 610 Newsroom talked with Barry Friesen, the General Manager of Clean Farms.
He says they first started this program about 20 years ago.
“When it first started, it was on obsolete pesticides only,” said Friesen. “Back then, it was done every four years in every province, and it was only done when there was partnership funding from the provinces.
“But it’s changed now today,” he continued. “We relegalized that it needed to be offered a little more frequently. Now, it’s once every three years in every province. And we’ve also partnered up with the Canadian Animal Health Institute as well, not only for obsolete pesticides, but also obsolete animal health products too.”
Friesen says they’re really pleased with the commitment of Peace Country farmers, as well as from participating ag-retail collection sites.
“There’s expiry dates on the products for a reason,” Friesen said. “And they’re not supposed to use material that has expired for a variety of reasons. Notwithstanding the chemistry of the product, it may not even work at all, or just not in the way that it’s supposed to. So, it’s not supposed to be used, and that’s the reason the industry’s provided this program, so farmers have a safe way to dispose of this material.”
For years when they’re not collecting the hazardous materials, Friesen describes what farmers can do to store their unwanted materials.
“They just need to make sure that they are safely locked up,” he said. “Just hang on to it until September 2019, when we come back for another round-up of the material.
“We also do exit surveys with all of the customers who come through with the program,” Friesen continued. “They think that every three years is the correct time frame by when then accumulate enough obsolete products that they’d like to get rid of it.”
Once the product is picked up, it’s then taken to Swan Hills, where it’s then destroyed through high-temperature incineration.
But, Friesen says it’s not possible for interested farmers to just take their products straight to Swan Hills to be burned.
“(Farmers) would have to go through a hazardous waste hauler,” he said. “They’d have to find a way for the hauler to come to their property, or the farmer would have to bring it to them. And in both cases, the cost of doing so would be expensive.”
The obsolete collection program is part of the plant science and animal health industry’s commitment to the responsible lifecycle management of their products.
For more information, please visit www.cleanfarms.ca.
– Posted by BET
