USE of the herbicide glyphosate for weed control was phased out by council last week.
From 1 July, the herbicide will no longer be used. Hand weeding, brush cutting, and mulching will be undertaken instead to suppress the growth of weeds.
The mayor Sandra Mayer said “we will also increase roadside mowing, trial steam weed control and consider park designs which reduce the need for herbicides, as well as researching and testing out low risk herbicides.”
“We believe by stopping the use of this herbicide, we are helping to protect our natural, coastal environment for future generations,” she said.
Council stopped using glyphosate at playgrounds, preschools, and maternal child health centres on 1 January.
The use of glyphosate has been controversial worldwide. Last month in the United States, pharmaceutical company Bayer settled nearly $US11 billion worth of lawsuits related to the use of their product Roundup, which is a glyphosate based weed killer. It was alleged that the herbicide may have links to cancer.
First published in the Frankston Times – 6 July 2020