The Crop Protection Association’s Common Sense Gardening group has issued advice for consumers about how to dispose of unwanted or withdrawn garden chemicals safely. The information is well worth keeping to hand on the garden centre information desk.

* Never dispose of unwanted product in drains, sinks, lavatories, watercourses or ditches.

* If you do have unwanted garden care chemicals you will need to dispose of them through the local waste authority. To find your nearest household waste site where garden care chemicals can be disposed of, click this link

* If you have empty ready to use containers, these can now be placed in household recycling. If these containers have held concentrated product (i.e. requiring dilution for use) then the container should be rinsed three times, adding the washings to your final spray solution and then disposed of in general household waste. Containers that have held concentrated product are NOT suitable for recycling.

Gary Philpotts, chair of the Common Sense Gardening Group, said:

 “Spring is an exciting time of year for gardeners as they venture back outside and begin planting, fertilising and nurturing their garden, watching it come back to life.

 “Garden care chemicals play an important part in creating and maintaining a garden and now is a good time to take stock of what products you have in the garden shed, decide what you need to buy and dispose of any you no longer need.