Australia’s agvet chemical container recycling program drumMUSTER has been relaunched in Mallala with more opportunities to dispose of agvet chemical drums.
Allan McGann, drumMUSTER’s National Program Manager, is delighted that to report that local farmers can now deliver their empty drums throughout the year, rather than on a few set days.
“The District Council of Mallala is one of hundreds of councils across the country that provides thedrumMUSTER service to ratepayers. Farmers and other chemical users benefit by easily being able to offload drums before they become an environmental problem on their land.”
The Mallala Resource Recovery Centre on Limerock Road now receives drums every Thursday afternoon excluding public holidays. Booking are essential and can be made by calling Allan Smith, Team Leader of Waste Services at the District Council of Mallala, on 0428 400 111.
Mr Smith said, “Council is pleased to be able to offer this service on an ongoing basis to allow community members more opportunities to recycle their containers.”
“For the Council, having an ongoing service instead of a specific day for collections means that the collection area can be cleared more regularly, creating a cleaner and safer working area and decreasing WHS issues due to better housekeeping. Council is proactive when it comes to new initiatives that promote recycling and reduce the amount of material that ends up in landfill.”
Good news all round is that with the increased use of returnable packaging arrangements for 110 litre (enviro) and 1,000 litre (IBC) containers, the number of single trip drums being used by farmers is declining. Unfortunately, there is also growing evidence to suggest that some farmers are once again burying or burning their drums.
We encourage farmers not to become complacent by diverting small amounts of drums into the on-farm tip or by burning them. Take the opportunity to use the drumMUSTER service and dispose of your drums as you go.
Since 1999, drumMUSTER has collected more than 26.3 million drums across Australia, including 3.7 million in South Australia.
Mr McGann said, “We commend the District Council of Malalla on their commitment to drumMUSTERand for increasing the options for local users to dispose of their clean chemical containers. When farmers miss an annual collection, they can get a build-up of containers that becomes difficult to manage. The new service implemented by Malalla Council is similar to that of other councils in the region.
For further information, call 1800 008 707 or log on to www.mallala.sa.gov.au.
Photo caption: drumMUSTER inspector Eric Williams (left) and Team Leader of Waste Services Allan Smith (right).
