CURRENT ONGOING PROJECTS    

Project 3 

Project Title:  Pesticide Disposal Assistance and Pesticide Container Recycling Programs

Agency:  Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services

Project Implementation and Completion Date:  Ongoing Effort

 


Project Description:  The Food and Drug Protection Division operates two outstanding programs in which unwanted pesticides and plastic pesticide containers are dealt with in an environmentally sound manner.  The Hazardous Waste Section collects pesticides at designated sites on Pesticide Disposal Collection Days and at permanent Household Hazardous Waste sites.  In 1980 the department created the Pesticide Disposal Assistance Program through appropriations from the General Assembly.  With these appropriations, the Pesticide Disposal Assistance Program is able to provide an available, affordable, and environmentally acceptable mechanism in which any homeowner, farmer, or institution can properly dispose of unwanted or unusable pesticides.  This program was the first of its kind in the country.   The Pesticide Section operates a program concerned with the proper disposal of plastic pesticide containers because these containers represent a significant hazard if discarded in landfills or private waste dumps.  Because of the containers’ previous contents, they can not be recycled through traditional plastic recycling programs.  Beginning in 1995, counties have been eligible to receive grants through the Pesticide Environmental Trust Fund to establish pesticide container recycling programs.  The grants are administered through the department’s Pesticide Section, which also organizes the statewide collection and disposal of the containers.

Contacts:

Anticipated Environmental Sustainability Benefits:  In 1999 alone, the Hazardous Waste Section sponsored 35 Pesticide Disposal Collection Day events.  With the assistance of the N. C. Cooperative Extension Service, the section supervised the collection and disposal of 122,783 pounds and 39 drums of pesticide waste.  Of this total, 19,404 pounds and four drums of Hurricane Floyd flood damaged pesticides were collected from 10 counties in eastern North Carolina.  As of March 31, 2000, the Pesticide Disposal Assistance Program has disposed of over 1 million pounds of unwanted pesticides.  Future plans call for approximately 40 Collection Day events per year throughout the state in an attempt to have a Pesticide Collection Day in each county at least once every other year.  The establishment of permanent Household Hazardous Waste Collection sites in counties without one is another program goal.  USAg Recycling, Inc., the largest recycling contractor of plastic pesticide containers in North Carolina, recently reported that approximately 322,000 pounds of plastic pesticide containers were recycled in 1999.  This accomplishment ranks North Carolina sixth in the country in terms of plastic pesticide containers recycled.  To date, at least 78 counties have received Pesticide Trust Fund Grants through the program. 

Program goals for 2000 include:

  • Initiate recycling in those few remaining counties without recycling program
  • Assist existing programs with improvement of existing facilities and enhancement of educational and outreach campaigns
  • Enhance the department’s own statewide outreach and marketing campaign to promote participation in the recycling program among private and commercial pesticide applicators

 

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