Racing club set to harness drum power

Victorians in the Greater Bendigo region are racing to improve their drumMuster efforts as a number of collection days are scheduled to kick off this month.

The Elmore Harness Racing Club will hold its first drumMuster at the course to give local growers the opportunity to get rid of their empty and clean agvet chemical containers. The collection day will be held Wednesday 17 October at Elmore Harness Racing Club, Elmore-Raywood Road, 1-4 pm.

Victoria’s drumMuster Consultant, John Knight, said October is the perfect time for local farmers to get in and clean up their on-farm storage before the post-emerging spray period.

“We all know farmers are very busy for most of the year, but with this quiet period approaching in the next couple of weeks it’s perfect,” he said.

“Growers can clean up their farms of their empty drums before the harvest.”

John said he drummed up plenty of support from locals and visitors at the Elmore Field Days earlier this month.

Since starting with the program in 2003, Elmore has collected 13,650 drums. Last year the town smashed its own records by collecting 3000 drums during one collection.

More than 66,000 drums have been collected throughout the Greater Bendigo region since the Council signed up to drumMuster in 2000.

The collections come off the back of a big month for drumMuster, with the program collecting its 20-millionth drum. That’s more than 25,000 tonnes of waste avoiding landfill and being turned into new products again, such as wheelie bins, cable covers and garden stakes.

Greater Bendigo drumMuster collections:

Tuesday 16 October:

Raywood, Recreation Reserve, 9 am-12 noon

Wednesday 17 October:

Goornong Transfer Station, English’s Road, 9 am-12 noon
Elmore Harness Racing Club, Elmore-Raywood Road 1-4 pm

Further information is available at www.drummuster.com.au.