The Ag Container Recycling Council (ACRC) is the trade association of the ag chemicals industry, responsible for supporting the collection and proper recycling of ag containers nationwide.
The program currently operates in 46 states and accepts ALL types of ag chemical containers – rigid high-density polyethylene (HDPE) 55-gallon containers and smaller – that previously held products utilized in agricultural crop protection, animal health, specialty pest control, micronutrient, biologicals, fertilizer, and adjuvant products. Over the past 30 years, the ACRC program has collected and recycled over 240,000,000 pounds of container plastic! The program is fully funded by its member companies who are the manufacturers of these products. Collection of containers takes place through ACRCs network of contractors.
ACRC has recently seen concerns in various states with our container acceptance requirements. ACRC would like to stress that the container inspection and cleaning criteria used by ACRC contractors, is not the contractors standard, but is the ACRC standard which is ultimately the EPA standard. This standard was established in the EPA 2006 Container and Containment Rule, requiring 99.99% removal of each active ingredient. A simple way to articulate this standard is “CLEAN means CLEAN, with NO residue seen.” Staining is fine, but residue is not. We acknowledge that enforcement of this standard by our contractors requires ongoing training and communication due to staff turnover. Ongoing training and communication is also required at the end user level (farmers and professional applicators).
ACRCs goal is and will continue to be, to enforce the above inspection standards, not lower them. As soon as we lower the standard, we jeopardize the program and the health and safety of all involved. Specific environmental, health and safety (EHS) risks include EHS hazards at collection areas (trailers, staff, soil, groundwater), EHS hazards to downstream parties (contractors, plastic processors, and plastic end users), EHS risks to non-grower collection site owners (retailers, landfills, recycling centers), EHS risks in transportation, and financial impact through inability to recycle and sell the plastic. Regarding caps and labels, removal and disposal of these has been the responsibility of the end user, not the contractor, throughout the life of the ACRC program. This requirement is critical to the efficiency of our collection and inspection process. Booklet labels and caps should be discarded but base labels may remain. Because ACRC contractors cannot be sure what type of product was in each container, ALL containers must be properly triple or pressure rinsed prior to collection. This includes non-pesticide products.
While the above may seem like difficult requirements to meet, we know from experience in states all across the country, that these standards are reasonable and readily achievable. ACRC has many collection sites that continually demonstrate the ability to meet these standards with minimal (0 – 10%) rejects. You will help foster the long term success of the ACRC program, by reinforcing our education and training efforts to achieve these same results at ALL collection sites in the coming season. We encourage you to check out the ACRC website, inspection checklist, rinsing best practices and acceptance standards for more information. Several best practices include 1) rinsing at the time of use 2) triple or pressure rinsing until rinsate is water clear and 3) field applying the rinsate. Remember, CLEAN means CLEAN, with NO residue seen!