Plastic containers for agricultural products can now be disposed of at Clutha's main landfill, under a rural recycling programme launched this month.
Agrecovery already has about 50 sites dotted around the South Island and the scheme is now available at the Mt Cooee landfill 1km east of Balclutha.
The programme gives growers, farmers, foresters and other primary industry chemical users an environmentally safe way of disposing of their unwanted plastic containers.
Clutha District Council engineering and contracts manager Christian Bopp said Agrecovery was a great initiative to clean up the rural environment.
‘‘The aim is to make sure the agrichemical containers are not disposed of illegally or put into landfill.''
The voluntary programme is supported by agrichemical brand owners, rural retailers, regional and district councils and the primary industry. Only brand-approved containers can be taken to the Clutha site.
More than eight million litres of agrichemicals are distributed throughout the New Zealand market each year.
Providing a sustainable solution to the long standing problem of used container disposals on farms was an important issue, both for the industry and the country, Mr Bopp said.
The Clutha site will accept triple-rinsed plastic agrichemical containers of 60-litres capacity or less.
