- [Instructor] What can you do if you have
unwanted pesticides?
Pesticides that you no
longer are gonna use
or perhaps are in deteriorating containers
or perhaps they're not even labeled
because the label has
disappeared or worn off.
So what can you do?
The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture
has a program called CHEMSWEEP.
It's a waste pesticide disposal program
to properly dispose of unwanted
or unneeded pesticides.
It's a program designed to
provide Pennsylvania farmers,
but also other licensed
pesticide applicators
of a free or low-cost means to dispose of
either canceled pesticides,
suspended pesticides,
unwanted pesticides or
unusable pesticides.
So how do these pesticides accumulate?
Certainly prohibitive high cost
of hazardous waste material
is one possibility.
You try to get rid of
them, but you found out
it's gonna have a high price tag
to dispose of these
hazardous waste materials.
So you felt your only
option was to keep them.
The other thing that
happens, many pesticides
are phased out each year
and they're replaced
with newer, less toxic products.
Perhaps they're removed
from the market by EPA
or they're voluntarily
canceled by the manufacturer
and replaced with other products.
So what happens?
Pesticide users are sometimes
left with quantities
of potentially dangerous
and toxic chemicals.
Here we see a pesticide storage area
that has lots of old pesticides.
Some of the containers are rusting out,
there's broken bags, broken cartons.
Certainly potentially dangerous and toxic.
Keep in mind that improper storage
can lead to environmental liability.
Long-term storage in barns
or garages or storage sheds
and other less-than-appropriate areas
can lead to an incredible amount
of environmental liability.
Also keep in mind that
there's a hidden cost
if you were to clean up and remove these
in case the property
was sold or transferred.
Someone's gonna have to pay to get rid
of those pesticides.
Another concern is storage areas
that have the potential
to contaminate water.
You see in this picture in the background
there's a source of water.
It looks like a lake or pond.
Certainly the chemicals
stored in this old barn,
if they escape that barn,
they could certainly
contaminate the water
and now you have a huge
environmental liability.
There's also health and safety concerns.
Broken bags and leaking chemicals.
You walk into the storage area,
I would be concerned for
my health and safety.
There's certainly dust
and vapors in the air
from these pesticides.
To give you an idea of
the historical perspective
of CHEMSWEEP, it was started in 1993
with a collection of over
29,000 pounds of pesticides
from six counties here in Pennsylvania.
It provided a means to legally
dispose of waste pesticides
with little or no cost
to the pesticide owner.
The most recent five year
average is over 78,000 pounds.
In all, since 1993, there's been over
two million pounds
collected and disposed of
in a proper manner.
So who can participate in CHEMSWEEP?
Certainly those in traditional agriculture
but also outside of the
traditional agriculture,
you know, growers, applicators,
licensed pesticide companies.
One key criteria is that you
must be in the selected county.
This is a map of the CHEMSWEEP rotations.
You see a map of Pennsylvania
with the counties
and each county is given a letter.
If you look at the bottom of the map
you see the letters correspond to a year
that that county will be
in the CHEMSWEEP program.
Please note that Lancaster
and Chester Counties
have two letters, a B/D which means
they are in the program every two years.
So take a look and pick your county
and you can find the dates
when you will be eligible
for CHEMSWEEP.
Certainly CHEMSWEEP involves a lot of
different type of users in
collection of pesticides.
The pesticides that are
eligible must be or have been
at one time registered for sale
and used within Pennsylvania.
If your amount that you want to dispose of
is over 2,000 pounds, you will have to pay
directly to the contractor at
the price negotiated by PDA.
Under 2,000 pounds it is a free program
funded by the Pennsylvania
Department of Ag.
But again, the participant
must be in the selected county
for that year.
So what products are not accepted?
Certainly oxidizers such
as chlorine or bromine
that are used in the
swimming pool industry
to treat the swimming pool water
are not acceptable in this program.
Neither are straight fertilizers.
These are not accepted
in the CHEMSWEEP program.
Of course, keep in mind the best way
to get rid of pesticides it to use them
according to the label directions.
If you can use the product
according to the label directions
that's gonna be the best
way to get rid of them.
But in cases where you can't
or you don't know what the products are,
CHEMSWEEP is your alternative.
So if you have additional questions,
please check out the CHEMSWEEP page
on the Pennsylvania
Department of Ag website
and you can see the address there.
Special thanks for all the contributors
for our photographs and graphics
and hopefully you will take advantage
of the CHEMSWEEP program.
Thank you.
