Garland County to hold pesticide collection event

Garland County producers will have the opportunity to dispose of their outdated and unused pesticides during a collection event on Saturday at Garland County Fairgrounds.

The pesticide collection is free and made available through funding from the Ar- kansas 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 Products that will be accepted are outdated, discontinued or unwanted agricultural pesticides.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, lin- dane and toxaphene.

Many old pesticides cannot legally be used or disposed of through usual means, such as landfills. Anyone who has pesticides that fall into this category are asked to plan on bringing their 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 more than 754,000 pounds of unwanted materials from 59 counties.

If interested in bringing pesticides to the event, contact the Garland County Farm Bureau office, 624- 5691, to pre- register before Wednes- day. Any identifying information, such as name and address, will be removed from the registration form so that anonymity may be provided. Contact your county agent at 623- 6841 for information on safely transporting chemicals to the event.