Trial targets toxic chemicals
Poisons stored for 15 years and a shed load of 64 litres of toxic chemicals were among the haul of hazardous waste collected in a Palmerston North cleanup.
The registration-only collection run in June by the city council and chemical waste experts 3R pulled a total of 800 kilograms of hazardous chemicals from city homes, sheds and garages.
City Networks general manager Ray Swadel said weedkillers and insecticides including dusty containers of DDT and Lindane were the most common items brought in by the 80 people who took part. ‘‘The collection of 800kg of hazardous chemicals that might otherwise have found their way into our waterways is certainly a great result for the city.’’
Behaviour change and education co-ordinator Samantha Battman said the trial’s focus was on items that were difficult to dispose of safely.
Just storing them at home could pose risks of poisoning, and some had detrimental long-term effects for humans, wildlife and the environment if they were released. They could not be flushed down the toilet or into the stormwater because of the damage they could do to the wastewater treatment plant, rivers and oceans, and were not accepted by landfill operators.
‘‘Some of these persistent chemicals are quite nasty, and stick around for a long time.’’
General manager for 3R’s Chemcollect Jason Richards said the trial had been a useful test of a pre-booking system for people with waste they wanted to remove. He said that often, if a general chemical waste amnesty was organised, people would turn up with things like paint and batteries, for which there were other return schemes on offer.
‘‘A campaign like this is good for awareness, and removes stuff not covered by other programmes.’’
Some of the materials had to be sent overseas for specialist disposal, but the majority could be neutralised, stabilised or ‘‘vented off’’ within New Zealand.
Battman said it was likely many people missed out on the trial, which was only marketed for a couple of weeks.
It had shown there was a need, and further investigations would be carried out, but at the moment the council had no budget to make it a regular event.