Humberside herbicide guide

Humberside County Council has published a leaflet entitled “Herbicides and other methods of weed control” which outlines the Council’s current policy and instructs members of the public about the problems associated with herbicide use and alternatives which should be considered by them. The leaflet was prepared with the assistance of The Pesticides Trust [now PAN UK].

      The leaflet briefly explains the problems of water contamination which have been associated with residual herbicide use and that “over use or inappropriate chemical control of weeds has led to concerns...to ensure the safety of food, air, soil, water and hence humans”.

      As a result, the County Council explains, they will no longer use residual herbicides. The alternatives are glyphosate, which is expensive and requires more than one application a year, and manual weed control “which has been estimated to be up to ten times more expensive than chemical based treatments”. Methods by which the Council can reduce its use of herbicides are discussed, and include thoughtful contract specification, adapting landscape and garden design, and maintaining planted areas to limit weed growth. The implications of using new weed control methods, the leaflet suggests,  are that there may be more weeds around, that more wild flowers will be seen and that wildlife will be enhanced. The policy includes:

• avoidance of pesticide use where possible;

• a ban on 'Red List’ chemicals;

• use of the most environmentally safe and cost effective weed control methods;

• environmental and toxicological assessment of new products before their use is authorized;

• an investigation of best methods for pesticide storage and disposal

A page of advice to home gardeners opens with suggestions for avoiding the use of chemical pesticides in the garden, and goes on to provide important information on the safe use and disposal of pesticides should their use be unavoidable. This includes the information that the County Council provides a service for the disposal of household and garden chemicals—a welcome but lamentably rare service.

      The leaflet has been widely distributed and has met with positive and enthusiastic response, to the extent that a reprint was required.

Pesticides and Herbicides, Protecting the Environment: A guide to best practice in pesticide use, Humberside Environmental Office, County Hall, Beverley, North Humberside, HU17 9XA, UK.

[This article first appeared in Pesticides News No. 22, December 1993, page 19]