Do you have hazardous agricultural chemicals on your farm property that you no longer want? Or have you moved onto a property with unknown agricultural chemicals in storage?

We are aware that there are stockpiles of unwanted AgriChemicals on many farms that, due to changes in farming practices, can no longer be used. These chemicals are potentially hazardous for you, your family and employees, and also for the environment - especially if the containers are in poor condition and are stored where there is easy access to them.

The cost to dispose of these chemicals appropriately can amount to thousands of dollars. Inappropriate disposal within farm pits or elsewhere on properties can result in significant contamination. Costs to clean up such properties can be even more than to dispose of the unwanted chemicals.

Waimakariri District Council and Environment Canterbury have been working together for five years, with funding assistance from the Ministry for the Environment (MfE), to provide all farms in the Waimakariri District with free disposal of unwanted AgriChemicals. The first collections began in early 2004 and were completed in February 2008.
We have offered the free AgriChemical collection to all rural properties in the Waimakariri District by writing to 5,392 landowners (targeting different parts of the district each year), and inviting them to take advantage of this free collection. Of those who were offered the service, 255 participated, and 19.5 tonnes of AgriChemicals have been removed from those properties.

Now that these targeted collections have been completed, we are offering one final free collection for those people who may still have stockpiles of old, unused AgriChemicals on their properties. February, 2009 is the final chance for property owners to make use of the Council’s offer to remove and dispose of their AgriChemicals for free

You must register with the Council to take advantage of this offer. The service is only available for a limited period, and the Council won’t meet any disposal costs after this final collection has been completed. We urge you to register for this collection as soon as possible, and before 16 January 2009.

 The chemicals targeted for the free collection are:

-      Pesticides and herbicides;

-       Agrichemicals containing substances banned under the Stockholm     Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs);

-       Fertilisers containing POPs;

-       Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB’s);

-       Drenches with POPs; and

-       Drenches containing heavy metals.

 The collections are carried out by experienced, licensed contractors. Anyone registering for the final mop-up collection will be kept informed about how the service will be provided.

If you do find a large quantity* of agricultural chemicals when you're cleaning out a shed or garage in December 2008 or January 2009, please don't take them to the HazMobile. Contact the Council to have a Registration Form for the AgriChemical Collection sent to you, or download a copy of the registration form (see below), fill it in and send it back to us before 16 January 2009. You can:

• Fax it to (03) 313 4432; or

• Post it to Waimakariri District Council, Private Bag 1005, Rangiora 7440; or

• Drop it in at one of our Council service centres in Kaiapoi, Oxford or Rangiora.

We define a large quantity of agricultural chemicals as more than 20 litres or over 20kg of any one type of AgriChemical.

For anyone with domestic quantities of household hazardous wastes or agricultural chemical wastes (that is, up to 20 litres or 20kg of any one waste), we provide a free disposal service at our 2 HazMobile Days - one in Kaiapoi and one in Rangiora. See the HazMobile Page for more information on what household hazardous wastes are, and what we will accept at the HazMobile. The next HazMobile Days will be in February 2009.

In addition to the two Councils’ AgriChemical collection, the AgRecovery Container collection programme, a new product stewardship programme, was launched in early 2007 to deal with disposal of empty, triple-rinsed AgriChemical containers. For more information, look at our AgRecovery Page or check out the AgRecovery Container Collection website

Poster (479 kb)
Registration (85 kb)
Map (pdf 468)