Federated Farmers is applauding the way Waikato farmers have embraced Agrecovery rural recycling.
A record six tonne of hazardous horticultural, agricultural and
veterinary chemicals was collected during the Waikato regional
collection, finishing last week.
“Farmers are choosing to dispose of their chemical waste responsibly due
to the convenience of the service,” says James Houghton, Federated
Farmers’ Waikato provincial president.“It is great to see increasing numbers of farmers using Agrecovery. It
is another example of farmers changing their behaviour and working for
the good of the environment without the need for legislation.
“Being environmentally friendly does not come free, so the money
invested by our local councils enables the program to work and gain
traction, which, as you can see, is having the desired outcome.
“Farmers buy-in to Agrecovery comes from a desire to look after our
land, our water and the environment for today’s and tomorrow’s
generations,says Houghton.
Agrecovery chairman, Graeme Peters, was equally buoyed by the record breaking collection.
“I am enthused by the huge uptake in the Waikato; it is five times the
amount collected in Waikato last year and is the largest recovery on
record,” Peters added.
“The increase was largely due to the support provided by the Waikato
regional council, the farmers and three of the region’s district
councils – Waipa District Council, Hauraki District Council and
Otorohanga District Council – who helped fund the recovery of chemicals.
“As well as helping to reduce user costs, they extended the event’s
reach by promoting it through their networks. We were also able to use
five transfer stations as drop-off points this year, which saved on-farm
collection costs and meant we could collect more chemicals at no charge
to the farmer, or, at a greatly reduced rate,” says Peters.
Anyone with horticultural, agricultural and veterinary chemicals can log
their unwanted and expired chemicals for the next collection with
Agrecovery. Phone 0800 247 326 to request a booking form.
Collections are demand based, but are generally held in most regions of New Zealand every 12 to 24 months.
