More than one million drums will avoid landfills thanks to the efforts of some passionate locals doing their bit for thedrumMUSTER program.
The Central Murray Regional Waste Management Group has processed nearly a third of all drums recycled through the program in Victoria, preventing 1234 tonnes of waste from clogging up landfills.
Their contribution has also gone a long way for drumMUSTERmoving towards recycling 20 million drums nationwide later this year.
Central Murray Regional Waste Management Group Executive Officer Karen Fazzani said the million drum milestone was fantastic news.
“It’s something we’ve been promoting regularly and I’m happy to be involved,” she said. “Councils have been really supportive in the program. In the past we’ve put ads in the paper and we have a fortnightly column that helps promote the program.”
But she said there was still plenty of work to do.
“We know there are still drums out there, there’s always room to collect more,” she said.
drumMUSTER’s Victorian Regional Consultant John Knight knows firsthand how vital the group’s work has been to the program over the past 12 years.
“The group has managed around 25 sites for drum deliveries since starting the program back in 1999,” he said. “They’ve been pretty good to work with and have been fantastic on getting a handle on where the drums are.”
“I am very happy at the tremendous progress they have made at keeping plastic and steel drums out of landfills and diverting them into recycled material. This achievement has been an enormous boon for both the community and local environment.”
“I’d also like to give a big thanks to everyone who has supported the drumMUSTER program by bringing in their drums. We couldn’t have done it without their vital contributions.”
Mr Knight said most of the drums once held chemicals used on broad acre and mixed farming in the region.
“More drums are likely to come through the region as rice farming returns to the region after the huge amount of rain he have received in the last year,” he said.
Since its inception in late 1998, drumMUSTER has collected and recycled more than 19.2 million empty agvet chemical containers and transformed them into practical items such as fences, wheelie bins and road signs.
For any further information on the drumMUSTER program, call 1800 008 707 or log on to www.drummuster.com.au.
Breakdown of drums collected by council (since 1999):
Wakool Shire (NSW) – 60,558
Buloke Shire – 376,033
Loddon Shire – 156,204
Gannawarra Shire – 75,239
Swan Hill Shire – 349,908
Total – 1,010,942 or 1234 tonnes of waste diverted from landfill and recycled.
29 May 2012