The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has authorised the AgStewardship body to increase the levy on farm chemical sales which pays for the DrumMuster and ChemClear container recycling program.
The retail levy rises from four cents a litre or kilogram to six cents.
The scheme levy funds the collection and recycling of chemical containers and safe disposal of agricultural and veterinary chemicals.
AgStewardship estimates manufacturers representing more than 90 per cent of the crop and veterinary chemicals sold in Australia – about 116 companies – participate in the scheme.
The levy has funded programs for the safe disposal and recycling of the containers and unused chemicals since 1998, and has now received ACCC authorisation to continue for a further five years.
In the past 20 years, the program has diverted 32 million containers from landfill, and collected more than 661,000 litres of chemicals for safe disposal and recycling.
“We see considerable public benefit from these collection and recycling programs,” ACCC deputy chairman Mick Keogh said.
He said the ACCC had also approved the DrumMuster levy’s first rise since it was introduced to keep pace with increased expenses and to fund improvements to the programs.
However, some grower groups had expressed concern with the levy rise, asking for increased transparency and oversight of the programs by farmers in exchange for supporting the increase.
“We encourage AgStewardship to work more closely with farmers and other stakeholders to ensure the programs are as effective as they can be,” Mr Keogh said.
“They must continue to meet the needs of these groups and provide farmers with full accountability for levy expenditure.
“These recycling programs are important to farmers as the end users of the chemical products.”
The ACCC granted its authorisation when satisfied that the public benefit from the conduct outweighs any public detriment.
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Andrew Marshall
Andrew Marshall is the group agribusiness writer for ACM's state agricultural weeklies and websites. He is a former editor at The Land and has worked in various Rural Press group roles in Canberra, North Richmond (NSW) and Toowoomba (Qld).
Andrew Marshall is the group agribusiness writer for ACM's state agricultural weeklies and websites. He is a former editor at The Land and has worked in various Rural Press group roles in Canberra, North Richmond (NSW) and Toowoomba (Qld).
