Over 3,300 kilograms of obsolete pest control products recycled in British
Columbia

OTTAWA, March 23 /CNW/ - British Columbia farmers turned in 3,305 kilograms of unwanted or obsolete agricultural pest control products last fall, bringing the total amount of product collected in British Columbia since 2005 to more than 83,000 kilograms.

"Canada's plant science industry is committed to safe, environmentally responsible practices. From lab to label, through storage and disposal, our programs represent the industry's pledge to responsibly manage its products," said Lorne Hepworth, president of CropLife Canada, the trade association representing the developers, manufacturers and distributors of plant science innovations including pesticides and plant biotechnology.

The British Columbia obsolete pesticide collection program, which ran August 24 - 28 with drop-off locations at Viterra ag-retailers in Dawson Creek and Fort St. John, was co-sponsored by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, BC Ministry of Environment, Environment Canada, BC Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, BC Agriculture Council, Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC and Health Canada.

"Producers from the BC Peace are glad to dispose of unwanted pesticides in a safe and environmentally friendly manner - the BC Obsolete Pesticide Collection program helped us accomplish this with the much appreciated assistance of the funding partners and Viterra," said Rick Kantz, president of the Peace River Forage Association of BC.

All of the obsolete pesticide was taken from the Peace River region to a licensed disposal facility where it is disposed of through high temperature incineration.

CropLife Canada's stewardship initiatives were first launched in 1998 as a way to put into action the industry's commitment to full lifecycle stewardship practices. The programming has been so successful that earlier this year a new, stand-alone organization called CleanFARMS(TM) Inc. was launched to build on the success of the industry's empty container and obsolete pesticide collection programs.

"CleanFARMS(TM) is fortunate to have positive experiences like last year's B.C. collection to build on and we are looking forward to developing new programs to help reduce, reuse, recycle and safely dispose of other agricultural wastes," said Barry Friesen, general manager of CleanFARMS(TM) Inc.

For more information on industry's recycling initiatives, please visit www.CleanFARMS.ca. For more information on Canada's plant science industry, please go to www.croplife.ca.

For further information: Nadine Sisk, CropLife Canada & CleanFARMS, [phone] Ext 3224; Lynn Lashuk, Agriculture Environment Initiatives, [phone]