Farmers are urged to ‘clean out that shed’ and end waste hazard

GALWAY farmers have this week been urged  to pore through their sheds and storage cupboards and gather up all unused pesticides, waste oil products/coolants, veterinary containers and paints, for safe transportation and disposal next Monday (Nov. 11) at Ballinasloe Mart.

The move is part of a national Teagasc pilot project aimed at doing a ‘clean-up’ of all unwanted hazardous materials on farms across the country – it is thought that significant amounts of unused and unwanted waste products are being stored needlessly in farm sheds and stores.

Teagasc Environmental Specialist and Co-ordinator of this Pilot Waste Collection Scheme, Mark Gibson, said this week that the service available at Ballinasloe Mart on Monday (10am to 4pm), presented an excellent opportunity for farmers to dispose of hazardous waste left lying around in sheds.

“This will allow farmers to safely dispose of all their farm hazardous waste at an extremely competitive rate. I am encouraging all farmers to bring their hazardous waste to Ballinasloe Mart where it will be collected and transported to a hazardous waste facility for disposal,” said Mark Gibson.

He said that farmers in the county over the coming days should take a couple of hours to trawl through their sheds and storage cupboards and identify any hazardous products that might have been left lying around for years.

“There are a whole range of chemicals and pesticides that have been deregistered over recent years and farmers simply won’t have any use for these products. It’s possible that even chemicals like DDT are still left lying around in some sheds – this is a great chance to get all this tidied up.

“This ‘Bring Centre’ project will give them an opportunity to once and for all sort out any hazardous materials that are left in their sheds or in containers. We would make a special appeal to farmers to make use of this opportunity,” said Mark Gibson.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.