What do you call a program to help farmers safely dispose of
100 tons of pesticides
they can no longer use?

Successful.

“Georgia Clean Day safely eliminates the potential hazard
excess pesticides pose
on Georgia farms,” said University of Georgia
scientist Paul Guillebeau. “It actually protects the
environment.”

Providing
options

The program provides an option for farmers who want to
comply with pesticide and
environmental regulations. In just the past year, farmers
have been able to dispose of
more than 200,000 pounds of excess pesticides.

Thanks in part to funding by the Georgia legislature,
Guillebeau will be able to
continue offering this program through 1999 and set
additional collection dates around the
state.

Guillebeau is the Extension Service pesticide
coordinator for the UGA College of Agricultural and
Environmental Sciences. He said farmers may have
excess pesticides for any of several
reasons.

• Overbuying. A farmer may find a
  real bargain on a chemical he plans to
  use. So he buys a lot of it at the sale price,
  Guillebeau said. But plans or production
  recommendations may change, leaving him
  oversupplied.
• Accumulation. A farmer may not use
  an entire package in one season.
  When the new season arrives, he may choose newer, more
  effective chemicals. Over the
  years, these small amounts add up.
• Discontinuation. After it’s bought,
  the manufacturer may discontinue
  the product, or release one that’s more effective. If
  that happens, the farmer may choose
  to use the newer chemical.
• EPA regulation. New research may
  show harmful effects. In that case,
  the Environmental Protection Agency and the
  manufacturer recall the chemical. But some may
  remain on the farm.

Safely removing the
hazard

Guillebeau said some materials can also become useless,
but still toxic, if they freeze
or get wet.

Stored safely, excess pesticides pose no environmental
threat. But over time, packages
may break down and let the still-toxic product spill or
leak.

“DDT, once a common agricultural chemical, won’t break
down for decades,”
Guillebeau said. “So incineration is the only way to
remove it safely.”

But hiring a private company to remove and incinerate
pesticides is out of financial
reach for most farmers.

Program
participation

Georgia Clean Day coordinators set a collection day in
a county. Area farmers must call
in ahead and tell the type and amount of chemicals they
need to bring. The materials are
collected and carefully stored by type before
transportation.

This year, Waste Technologies in Ohio will incinerate
the materials on a contract.
Guillebeau said they burn the chemicals in a special high-
temperature furnace. The extreme
heat breaks the chemicals down into their basic, and often
harmless, components.

“The company is certified to do this,” he said. “They
are very careful
to ‘scrub’ the smoke to remove any harmful gases that
emerge.”

Clean Day
partners

The program was created by the Georgia Department
of Agriculture, UGA
Extension Service, Georgia
Farm Bureau and the Georgia Crop Production
Alliance. It began in 1995.

Current partners include GDA, UGA Extension, Georgia Department of Natural
Resources and Environmental
Protection Division.

Benefits of the
program

Without this program, farmers would remain liable for
these pesticides. But they
couldn’t use them. So they would sit in barns, shelters
and corners until they escaped
their containers and entered the environment.

“I can’t think of a better use of tax dollars,”
Guillebeau said. “This
helps farmers do what they know is right with their excess
pesticides and provides
protection to our soil, water and air.”