Last week the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Pesticide Disposal Assistance Program surpassed 3 million pounds collected since the program began in 1980. At a collection day in Nash County the program needed just 763.5 pounds to hit the 3 million pounds. Instead, residents dropped off 6,000 pounds for disposal.
“North Carolina’s was the first pesticide disposal program in the nation,” said Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler. “Based on weight, pesticides are more expensive and more problematic than latex paints or old gasoline for counties to collect. This program gives the county and its residents a safe way to dispose of old, outdated, banned or unwanted pesticides.”
The program is paid for through the Pesticide Environmental Trust Fund, which receives money through registration fees that companies pay on each pesticide product sold in the state and through an appropriation from the General Assembly.
The program rotates collection days among all 100 counties so that each county has a collection day every other year. Collections are handled through county Cooperative Extension offices. Pickups are sometimes coordinated through a county’s household hazardous waste program. In special situations, pesticide disposal assistance staff will go to a home or farm to assist with materials.
Since 1976, it has been illegal to dispose of pesticides in landfills. This program provides a way for them to be disposed of in a safe and environmentally friendly way. “This is a really great program for North Carolina,” Troxler said. “Only about half the states have a program like this one, and in those states without a program it is not really clear what they are doing with old pesticides.
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