Guest Column: 2013 Georgia Clean Day

Originally published in the Oct. 16, 2013, issue

 

By Joshua Wiley

 

Wiley

Pesticides in leaking containers or improperly disposed of can cause irreparable damage to the environment by contaminating water supplies or harming humans and wildlife. Some of the pesticides used in the past are no longer legal to use and are now in need of proper disposal.

To combat this problem, the Georgia Department of Agriculture created a waste pesticide disposal program called Georgia Clean Day. Georgia Clean Day gives Georgia farms, consumers and anyone else an opportunity to discard old, unusable or cancelled pesticides in an environmentally safe manner at no charge.

The 2013 Georgia Clean Day program was an incredible success. Using funds provided by the Environmental Protection Agency, the Georgia Department of Agriculture was able to host five events throughout the state with the help of local University of Georgia Cooperative Extension agents.

The 2013 Georgia Clean Day program kicked off on Jan. 31 at a local agricultural center in Washington, Ga. The event was designed for individuals within and surrounding Wilkes County, but interest for the event was so great that the news spread to 38 north Georgia counties. Nearly 100 people pre-registered for the event and combined they brought 27,000 pounds of waste pesticide for disposal. Individuals involved with the event included farmers, pest control operators, landscapers, nursery and greenhouse operations, UGA research scientists and even the Atlanta Botanical Gardens.  

Next, Georgia Clean Day traveled to Pierce County to an event at Griffin’s Warehouse feed and seed store in Blackshear, Ga. We only had 30 participants pre-register for this event, but they stunned us when they filled two 18-wheelers with more than 34,000 pounds of waste pesticide for disposal. Participants ranged from homeowners that wanted to get rid of an old bag of seven dust to a farmer that brought us more than 30 drums of furadan.

Over the course of the next seven months the Georgia Clean Day program hosted events in Colquitt County, Gwinnett County and finally ended in Peach County. The program had an extraordinary effect on the amount of waste pesticide sitting idle in basements and barns throughout the state and was appreciated by all who attended. In total this year’s Georgia Clean Day Program had 260 participants from 113 Georgia counties and collected more than 168,000 pounds of waste pesticide.

Since beginning the program in 1995, the Georgia Department of Agriculture and its partners have disposed of over 2 million pounds of waste pesticides that otherwise might end up in the wrong hands or contaminating the environment. Unfortunately, funding for this program was steadily cut starting in 2003. Funding for the program was continuously cut year after year despite its success, until it was completely defunded in 2007.

This year is the first time the department was able to secure grant money for the program since 2007.  

If you would like more information about Georgia Clean Day or would like to have a collection event hosted in your area, please contact your local Extension agent or the Georgia Department of Agriculture’s pesticide program.

Joshua Wiley is a regulatory program manager for the Georgia Department of Agriculture pesticide section.