Canberra’s Star Track Oval made sporting history earlier this year after hosting the Australian cricket team for the first time during the One-Day International series against the West Indies.
For Head Curator, Brad Van Dam it was up to him to make sure everything was in top shape for some of the greatest cricketers in the world.
To help him get the job done, Brad relies on the chemical container recycling program drumMUSTER.
Head Curator Brad Van Dam filling the tank.
Brad has regularly used the program to recycle his fungicide, insecticide and pesticide drums for the last five years since he took over the Head Curator role.
He said drumMUSTER comes in handy after his summer spraying every year.
“The spraying is very minimal through winter, so we keep the drums from the summer spraying program and now I’ve got them booked for collection next month,” he said.
“My staff consists of myself and two others and we’ve all completed our ChemCert courses.”
It’s been a big year for the oval with the construction of brand new lights, seating and a new venue naming sponsor.
Brad’s also kept busy with keeping the ground in winning form for AFL Premiership games, Shield matches, PMs XI, Chairman’s and the local Meteors and Comets games.
Brad said there was a bit of added pressure now as the sporting world begins to focus on Canberra.
But he said he put his faith in drumMUSTER to help him deal with his chemical waste safely and in an environmentally friendly way.
“I have containers from non-scheduled to schedule-six poison, which is my worst,” he said. “I haven’t used any fungicides this year, but I still got a few fungicide drums from last winter which I’ll take in.”
“It is part and parcel of the year. We have multi-million dollar players on the field and they want it all perfect and I think we got it spot on.
“We’re in the eye of the sports fan around the country. When people say Star Track Oval they know where we are.”
Since 1999, drumMUSTER has collected more than 21 million drums nation-wide. That represents more than 26,000 tonnes of waste avoiding landfill and being recycled into new and useful things again, like plastic cable covers, wheelie bins and pipes.