Lockyer Valley is ChemClear

The Lockyer Valley has played a significant role in ChemClear's second largest collection of unwanted agricultural and veterinary chemicals in Queensland.

With about 40 tonnes of chemicals collected from Queensland in the June and July round, Mayor Steve Jones said more than a tonne was collected from the Lockyer Valley alone.

It is becoming increasingly important we dispose of chemicals in the right manner and this program allows us to do that, Mayor Jones said.

ChemClear offers this service free of charge at designated periods throughout the year and it's well worth while taking them up on this opportunity.

The program is now closed for this year with ChemClear set to advertise for registration again next year.

In total 135.2kg of group one chemicals (classified chemicals) and 986.8kg of group two chemicals (collected from farmers, businesses, golf courses, government departments and Councils) were collected from the Lockyer Valley region, taking the Queensland total to more than 178.7 tonnes over the past nine years.

As one of the largest agriculture regions in Queensland, in addition to having the University of Queensland Gatton Campus in our region, there are a number of chemicals which are used on a daily basis, Mayor Jones said.

The ChemClear collection is a Drum Muster initiative which also provides Australian agricultural and veterinary chemical users with a recycling pathway for eligible empty agvet chemical containers.

During 2014-15 almost 11,000 Drum Muster containers were collected and sent for processing in the Lockyer Valley, Mayor Jones said.

Sites in the Lockyer Valley region open for the collection and management of Drum Muster containers are the Gatton Landfill, Laidley Transfer Station, Grantham Transfer Station and Lockyer Waters Transfer Station.

For more information on Drum Muster or how you can get involved in the recycling of Drum Muster containers you can visit their website at www.drummuster.com.au