Weed alternative trialled by council

THE Hobart City Council is adopting a high pressured approach in a trial to control weeds without the use of chemicals, including glyphosate.

The council is reviewing alternatives to reduce reliance on the weedkiller Roundup, which contains glyphosate, with a steam weeding trial started this week.

It comes on the back of questions over the use of glyphosate after a court in California ordered global chemical giant Monsanto to pay almost $400 million to a former school gardener who has cancer. A jury had found Roundup contributed to his illness.

Roundup is commonly used by councils, home gardeners and the agricultural sector.

A Hobart City Council spokesman said yesterday the council was conducting the trial by using a herbicide at one end of a street and steam weeding at the other end.

“We will then gauge the ef- fectiveness of the treatments. The trial will be in place for months,” the spokesman said

Daniel Kearney, co-owner of Steam Weeding by Great Southern Landscapes, is working with the council on the trial with a chemical-free system that pressurises water to boiling point and then targets weeds with an application.

“It will be a three-month trial on different streets,” Mr Kearney said.

“We have a truck-mounted machine, the largest before it gets into serious agri machinery. We’ve had it for 12 months and it’s very efficient.”

The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority — Australia’s regulator for glyphosate-based products — says products containing glyphosate are safe to use as per the label instructions.

“Reports claiming that glyphosate has been banned in some countries are incorrect,” the authority said.