Canadian farmers participate in obsolete medication and pesticide collection campaign

Farmers in the Peace Region of Grand Prairie, Alberta, returned 43,808 pounds of obsolete and unwanted pesticides and 992 pounds of livestock and equine medications through CleanFARMS' obsolete collection campaign this year.

CleanFARMS, which operates the program, is a national agricultural waste stewardship organization in Etobicoke, Ontario. Collections took place at six participating agricultural retail locations throughout the region from Sept. 21-23, 2016.

This marked the first time that a combined collection of pesticides and livestock medications has been offered in the Peace Region. CleanFARMS partnered with the Canadian Animal Health Institute (CAHI), Guelph, Ontario, to add the collection of livestock and equine medications to CleanFARMS' existing obsolete pesticide collection program.

"The members of the Canadian Animal Health Institute were pleased to participate in this important program. It demonstrates our industry's commitment to safely managing animal medications throughout their lifecycle," says Jean Szkotnicki, president of CAHI. "We were pleased to partner with CleanFARMS by providing the Peace Region's livestock and equine community with this service."

Peace Region farmers have been participating in the obsolete collections program since 1999. When the program last came to the Peace Region it was delivered over two years in 2012 and 2013 and more than 35,273 pounds of product was collected from farmers for safe disposal.

"This year's collection was a great success thanks to the commitment of Peace Region farmers and participating agricultural retail collection sites," says Barry Friesen, CleanFARMS general manager.

"CleanFARMS is proud to offer collection programs that ensure unwanted and obsolete pesticides, as well as livestock and equine medications, can be disposed of in an environmentally responsible way.”

The obsolete collection program is generally delivered in each province or region of the country every three years and comes at no cost to farmers. The free disposal program will be delivered again in the region in 2019.

In between collections, farmers are encouraged to safely store their unwanted pesticides and livestock medications until they can properly dispose of them through the program.