Washington County To Hold Pesticide Collection Event

Washington County producers will have the opportunity to dispose of their outdated and unused pesticides during a collection event on Friday, Nov. 4. The event will take place from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Washington County Fairgrounds.

The pesticide collection is free and is made available through funding from the Arkansas Abandoned Pesticide Trust Fund. Products that will be accepted are outdated, discontinued or unwanted agricultural pesticides. These pesticides may include older products that are more toxic, such as arsenicals, DDT, silvex, heptachlor, dieldrin, lindane and toxaphene.

Many old pesticides cannot legally be used or disposed of through usual means, such as landfills. If you have pesticides that fall into this category, plan on bringing your pesticides to this event.

The purpose of this collection is to promote a safer and cleaner environment by reducing the amount of pesticides that could potentially contaminate the drinking water, groundwater, streams, rivers and lakes across the state. To date the pesticide collections have brought in over 771,000 pounds of unwanted materials from 66 counties.

If you’re interested in bringing your pesticides to the event, contact the Washington County Farm Bureau office at 479- 442- 4266 to pre-register. Any identifying information, such as name and address, will be removed from the registration form so that anonymity may be provided. For more information, contact Katie Teague, County Extension Agent – Agriculture/Water Quality with the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service at 479-444-1755 or kteague@uaex.edu.

SUBMITTED PHOTO Washington County producers can dispose of their outdated pesticides on Nov. 4.