“Project Safe Send has made it possible for North Dakota to get rid of almost 1.8 million pounds of waste pesticides in the past 15 years,” said Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson, the state’s top agricultural official, who oversees the program. “Instead of being a considerable hazard to the environment and human health, these chemicals were safely gathered up and destroyed.” All of this was done at no charge to participants and without any taxpayer dollars.
North Dakota
North Dakota ranks tenth among the 50 states in cash receipts for crops, although it is 47th in population with only 642,000 people. Forty million acres, nearly 90% of the state’s total land area, is occupied by an estimated 30,000 farms and ranches. The state leads the nation in the production of many important commodities. HistoryIn 1991, at the urging of the pesticide industry, the North Dakota Legislature created a special fund, the Environmental and Rangeland Protection (EARP) Fund, into which they channeled the fees that pesticide manufacturers were already paying to register their products in the state. The legislation also authorized the North Dakota Department of Agriculture (NDDA) to conduct a programme for eliminating unusable pesticides. An advisory committee made up of representatives from the legislature, the pesticide industry, the state university extension service, the state’s largest farm organizations and the state health department, was
established.
The first Project Safe Send was conducted in 1992 with 396 people at three sites bringing in a total of 80,910 pounds* of unusable pesticides. The programme has been reauthorized by the legislature every two years and is now written into state law. The 2002 collection took in the largest amount of waste pesticides – 190,759 pounds – while the 2003 program drew the largest number of participants – 460. Over the 16-year span of the programme, Project Safe Send collected an average 74,400 pounds of unusable pesticides from 310 participants annually. In just the past five years, however, those averages jump to 159,353 pounds from 395 participants per
year.
For the most part, the EARP Fund has provided all the necessary money for the programme. In 1997, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provided NDDA a grant to conduct extra collections in the flood-stricken Red River Valley. When the 2003 legislature reduced funding for the program, the EPA again provided a grant to enable a limited number of collections in 2004. The 2005 legislature restored full funding for the programme for the current 2005-07
biennium.
How it works
In late winter or early spring, Judy Carlson, NDDA’s Project Safe Send coordinator, meets with the advisory board to establish the sites and dates for Project Safe Send and to hire a contractor to conduct the collections. Over the past decade, NDDA has contracted several different companies to conduct the collections. Onyx Environmental Services, the US subsidiary of Veolia Environmental, has held the contract for the past several years. “We try to spread out the collection sites across the state, so no one has to drive more than 50 miles to participate in the programme,” Carlson says. “We have had as many as 21 sites in a year but have found that 12 sites is the
optimum.
”NDDA also conducts a statewide print and broadcast advertising campaign to publicize the collection dates and sites. All North Dakota residents are urged to bring their unusable pesticides to the nearest collection site.Onyx Environmental crews establish a perimeter and driving lanes at each collection site, which is usually located at a state transportation department maintenance yard. Participants drive into the collection area, and their pesticides are removed from their vehicles by Onyx personnel. Before participants leave the area, they are asked to complete a questionnaire about the
programme.
“We have had very few complaints, other than the distance people have to drive,” Carlson says. “Most people seem to be very satisfied with the programme and want to see it continued.” The only fee charged for the service is for rinsate, the water used to clean out pesticide containers. The first 100 pounds of rinsate is accepted free of charge, and one dollar is charged for each additional
pound.
Carlson said participants range from homeowners with single containers of weed killer or bug spray to large pesticide sales and application companies. This past year, a major dealer delivered more than nine tonnes of damaged pesticides to a Project Safe Send collection
site.
“Most of our participants are farmers and ranchers, who just want to get rid of old pesticides that they have stored away,” she says. “We seem to be getting less of the old pesticides, such as DDT, mercury and arsenic, but an increasing amount of modern
pesticides.”
| ‘Clean Sweep’ programmes in the United
States
Most parts of the United States operate a ‘Clean Sweep’ programme such as that in North
Dakota.
Source: The Clean Sweep Report www.epa.gov/oppfead1/cb/csb_page/updates/cleansweep.pdf |
Conclusion
Commissioner Johnson believes the need for Project Safe Send will continue for the foreseeable future.“As new pesticides are introduced, old pesticides become obsolete and unusable, and as producers retire or quit farming, they often leave behind farm chemicals that cannot be used,” he said. “Project Safe Send is a proven, effective and popular means for getting rid of these
pesticides.”
*1 kilogramme = 2.2 pounds
Ted Quanrud is the public information specialist at the North Dakota Department of Agriculture, tquanrud@state.nd.us