FS System in Ontario takes part in province wide CleanFARMS collection program

For three days in late October, farmers were able to bring their obsolete pesticides, unused animal health products and used sharps (needles, syringes and scalpel blades) to a series of 16 collection sites across Ontario for a safe and environmentally responsible disposal system. There was no cost for this service to farmers and all organizations volunteered their time and labour to the success of the program.

FS hosted five drop off locations at GROWMARK’s Ontario Distribution Centre in Kitchener, North Wellington Co-operative Services in Harriston, Huron Bay Co-operative in Dundalk, Vineland Growers Co-operative in Jordon Station, Thunder Bay Co-operative Farm Supplies and Co-operative Regional de Nipissing Sudbury in Thornloe.

From all accounts, the program at the FS locations was an overall success:

Dave Rogers, Dundalk branch manager for Huron Bay Co-operative reported an overwhelming response with the allocated canisters overflowing to almost filling a full trailer load. “There was a much larger number of farmers in with obsolete crop protection products than ever projected,” says Rogers.

Scott Wright, Vineland Growers Co-operative purchasing manager and health and safety management co-chair says that they didn’t expect a big response, but he was proven wrong. “During the three days we received product from 101 farms, three other dealers and one government agency. In total we filled 16 totes, six barrels, 13 skids and five boxes of animal health. This could not have been accomplished without the help from several volunteers,” says Wright.

Jeff McCallum, communications and marketing specialist for North Wellington Co-operative Services in Harriston said that farmers were very positive about the program and that almost half of the participants traveled more than 40 kilometers to get there with the furthest coming from about 80 kilometers away.

Ben Postuma, general manager of Thunder Bay Co-operative was impacted greatly. “I commend the chemical companies for their efforts in this program and am totally impressed with the amount of clean up this created in the local area." he says.

Pesticide collection programs have been run in Canada by CropLife Canada since 1998 under the CleanFARMS banner. More than 270,000 kilograms of obsolete product have been collected in Ontario during previous collection campaigns in 2001 and 2005.

This program is co-ordinated by AGCare with financial support from CropLife Canada and the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Other project partners include Ontario Farm Animal Council, Canadian Animal Health Institute, Ontario Veterinary Medical Association and Ontario Agri Business Association. For more information, visit www.agcare.org or www.ofac.org .

Frank Galfusz, GROWMARK Ontario Distribution Centre shift supervisor proudly displays the mass of collected obsolete products that he helped compile. The accumulation consisted of three boxes of animal health medication, a box of sharps and 20 skids and three drums of obsolete pesticides. “The oldest product collected was lead arsenic that had a Pesticide Control Products registration number of 19, which suggests that it was the 19th product registered with the Act in Canada,” says Galfusz.