The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has allowed AgStewardship to expand its industry waste reduction scheme to cover a broader range of agricultural and veterinary chemical containers.
"The variation to the authorisation is likely to increase the environmental benefits produced by the scheme by broadening the range of containers able to be accepted," ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel said.
The ACCC has approved a variation to an authorisation granted to AgStewardship in January 2009. The original authorisation allowed a four cent per litre/kilogram levy on the supply of agvet chemicals to fund the scheme which involves the collection and recycling of empty containers and the disposal of unwanted agvet chemicals.
As the scheme was limited to rigid metal or plastic containers, AgStewardship recently sought to vary the authorisation to enable a broader range of containers to be accepted. This includes a new chemical container developed by Nufarm which consists of a cardboard box containing a light density plastic bag.
AgStewardship intends to begin a pilot program to include the NuFarm container in the scheme. The ACCC considers that the pilot program will enable consideration to be given to whether the NuFarm container is suitable for inclusion in the scheme. On 19 May 2011 the ACCC granted interim authorisation for the minor variation to enable AgStewardship to begin promotional activities for the pilot program of the NuFarm container.
Authorisation provides immunity from court action for conduct that might otherwise raise concerns under the competition provisions of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010. Broadly, the ACCC may grant an authorisation when it is satisfied that the public benefit from the conduct outweighs any public detriment.
The ACCC's determination will be available from the public register on ACCC website www.accc.gov.au/AuthorisationsRegister.