CleanFARMS cleans up!

An excerpt from recent CleanFARMS News Release..........................


Ontario farmers returned more than 114,000 kilograms of obsolete pesticides and over 4,400 kilograms of animal health medications for safe disposal in 2013. The combined collection program was made possible through a unique partnership between CleanFARMS - a national industry-led agricultural waste stewardship organization - and the Canadian Animal Health Institute(CAHI).

"It's always a good thing when we can offer expanded programs to help farmers responsibly manage waste on their farms," says Barry Friesen, general manager of CleanFARMS. "Partnering with the Canadian Animal Health Institute on this initiative proved to be a win-win for everyone involved."

Ontario farmers were invited to participate at no charge, by dropping off their obsolete or unwanted agricultural pesticides and animal health medications to 31 ag-retail collection sites throughout the province in October for safe and environmentally responsible disposal.

Since the program launched in 1998, more than 1.9 million kilograms of obsolete pesticide has been collected across Canada and safely destroyed. The first animal health medication collection was piloted in 2009 and returned in 2013. After collection, all products are taken to a licensed waste management facility where they are safely disposed of through high-temperature incineration.

The obsolete collection program generally comes to the province every three years. In between collections, farmers are encouraged to safely store their unwanted pesticides and animal health medications until they can properly dispose of them through the program.

Thank you to the FS System for its part in this important program:

Sunderland Co-operative -- Oakwood Ag Centre
Lucknow District Co-operative
AGRIS Co-operative -- Leamington & Tupperville
Co-operative Regionale de Nipissing Sudbury -- Verner & Thornloe Ag Centres
North Wellington Co-operative -- Harriston
Huron Bay Co-operative -- Walkerton
Bradford Co-operative Storage
County Farm Centre -- Picton
GROWMARK, Inc. -- Kitchener