STILLWATER, Okla. — Oklahoma State University’s Pesticide Safety Education Program is partnering with the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry to host two unwanted pesticide disposal days in Blackwell on Oct. 12 and Guymon on Oct. 14
The events will take place from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Blackwell Fairgrounds and Event Center, 800 S. Main in Blackwell; and the Texas County Fairgrounds in Guymon, 402 N. Sunset Lane.
Farmers, ranchers, noncommercial applicators, pesticide dealers and homeowners are invited to bring up to 2,000 pounds of pesticides to the drop-off sites for proper disposal at no charge. A fee will be assessed to those bringing more than 2,000 pounds of pesticides.
Charles Luper, an OSU Extension associate with the OSU Pesticide Safety Education Program, said these disposal days began in 2006 and have collected nearly 1 million pounds of unwanted pesticides.
“By hosting these collection days, we’re able to properly dispose of these unwanted chemicals and keep them out of landfills, storm drains, lakes, streams and illegal roadside dumps,” Luper said. “This is a positive thing for the environment and reduces health and environmental concerns.”
Ryan Williams, who is with the Consumer Protection Services division of ODAFF, said the whole point of the program is to make sure any unwanted and unused pesticides are disposed of properly.
“We feel this is a very important service to provide so people have a safe way to dispose of pesticides. Pesticides that are disposed of improperly contaminate groundwater,” Williams said. “One thing we’re seeing more of is family members who have been left property after older relatives pass away. They’re cleaning out old barns and sheds and have no place to take these pesticides. It’s not unusual for people to bring in containers of pesticides that are 50 or 60 years old and no longer approved by the Environmental Protection Agency.”
Williams also pointed out that it’s not only agricultural chemicals that can be disposed of during these disposal days. Homeowners who have bottles of unwanted garden-related pesticides are welcome to bring those in, too.
Unwanted pesticides are classified as those chemicals that become unusable as originally intended for a variety of reasons, including leftover pesticides, pesticides that are no longer registered in Oklahoma and pesticides that no longer have labels or cannot be identified.
ODAFF has contracted with Clean Earth, a licensed hazardous waste company, to collect and properly dispose of waste pesticides. Pesticide dealers are asked to preregister through the OSU Pesticide Safety Education Program. Applicators and agricultural producers are not required to preregister.
“Pesticide dealers are asked to preregister because of the potential for large quantities of pesticides coming from multiple dealers or multiple locations,” Luper said. “This will help the Clean Earth company know what will be needed on site to effectively handle the quantity of pesticides collected. Please keep in mind paint, batteries, oil or fertilizer will not be accepted.”
Participants will need to safely transport their pesticides to one of the collection sites. Pick-up services are not available. Please check out these safe transportation tips.
For more information, visit the OSU Pesticide Safety Education Program website or contact Luper at 405-744-5808.
–Trisha Gedon
Oklahoma State University
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