By Alice McFarlane

Agriculture recycling program returns

Sep 9, 2024 | 4:25 PM

Farmers value the chance to round up unwanted items on their farms and bring them for safe disposal.

The Cleanfarms’ unwanted pesticides and old farm animal medications program is coming to five Canadian provinces this fall.

Cleanfarms teams spread out across the country and give farmers the opportunity to safely and conveniently dispose of these potentially dangerous products.

This year’s program features 72 collection events, some of which are one-day blitz-style collections and others multi-day events. They will take place in Northern Saskatchewan from Oct. 7 to 11, southern Alberta Oct. 21 to 25, Okanagan, Interior, and Kootenay regions of British Columbia Oct. 21 to 28, New Brunswick Oct. 28 to Nov. 8 and Nova Scotia Oct. 28 to Nov. 8.

The materials accepted at collection events are unwanted or obsolete agricultural pesticides including seed treatment and commercial pesticides for golf courses and industrial and commercial pest control products.

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Cleanfarms will also collect livestock/equine medications that are used on-farm in the rearing of livestock, poultry or horses in an agricultural context.

The program does not accept seed that is treated, fertilizer, diluted solution, large quantities of unopened product, full and unopened jugs of adjuvant or surfactant.

On the animal health side, the program will not collect needles or sharps, medicated feed, aerosol containers, premises disinfectants and sanitizers, veterinary clinic waste and medications, ear tags, and aerosols.

Domestic pesticides, fertilizers and animal health products and any other household hazardous waste cannot be turned in.

Cleanfarms Executive Director Barry Friesen said the program is a vital service to help farmers keep their property clean.

“Farmers participate in this program because it provides a reliable solution to safely manage some of the materials that may have built up on their farms over the past few years,” Friesen said. “They anticipate our return to their region every three years, and we enjoy connecting with new farmers in each province. This program offers the community peace of mind, knowing these items are handled with the utmost care and safety and the environment is always taken care of.”

Cleanfarms has been operating the collection program for old, unwanted pesticides since 2010, and expanded it four years later in partnership with the Canadian Animal Health Institute (CAHI) to include obsolete farm animal medications.

The previous round of collections in these regions was in 2021 and yielded 201,000 kgs of unwanted pesticides and 5,550 kgs of obsolete animal medications.

Farmers can find the closest event to them here.

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alice.mcfarlane@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @farmnewsNOW