Collecting A Lot of Pesticide

Collecting A Lot of Pesticide

Collecting A Lot of Pesticides. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report.

Over the last several years a rather large amount of unwanted pesticides have been collected for disposal. Mike Louisell, Public Information Officer for the Washington State Department of Agriculture explains.

LOUISELL: When you no longer need commercial or agricultural grade pesticides, what do you do with them? Call the Washington State Department of Agriculture. For a long time we’ve been collecting pesticides that farmers, public agencies, institutions, golf courses - many customers that have wanted to get rid of pesticides that are no longer registered or practical to use.

And Louisell talks about the milestone they recently reached.

LOUISELL: We’ve collected three million pounds of pesticides over a period from 1988. In our most recent collection event in Spokane, we actually collected 1000 lbs. of DDT. That’s an insecticide that’s been banned for use in the United States for 43 years. We received 3000 lbs. of strychnine. That’s an ingredient that was used in bait to attract rodents and limit their ability to damage grain crops.

If you do run across something like a DDT or strychnine on your property, Louisell says to just call.

LOUISELL: It would be best to just call us and we’ll make arrangements. We’ll either come to your property or we will take it at our next collection event.

That’s today’s Fruit Grower Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network of the West.

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