NCDA&CS PESTICIDE DISPOSAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM

The Pesticide Disposal Assistance Program (PDAP) is a consumer services program in the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. The PDAP, part of the Structural Pest Control and Pesticides Division, is a NON-REGULATORY program that provides cost-free assistance to farmers and homeowners. The goal of the Pesticide Disposal Assistance Program is to assist these citizens of North Carolina by managing and supervising the safe collection and lawful disposal of banned, out-dated, or unwanted pesticides.

In 1976, the North Carolina Pesticide Board adopted regulations governing the disposal of pesticides. These regulations make it illegal in NC to dispose of hazardous waste (which includes pesticides) in sanitary landfills. As a result of this dilemma, the Department created the Pesticide Disposal Assistance Program in 1980 through appropriations from the NC General Assembly.

With these appropriations, the Pesticide Disposal Assistance Program was created to provide an available, affordable, and environmentally acceptable mechanism in which any homeowner, farmer, or institution can properly dispose of unwanted or unusable pesticides.

This Program was created as a stewardship program to provide a much needed consumer service and was the first of it's kind in the entire United States. According to a recent EPA publication specifically on Pesticide Disposal Programs, there are now 33 States with permanent programs and 13 others working towards establishing permanent programs in their states. The North Carolina Department of Agriculture is proud to have been a national leader in establishing this highly regarded, ground-breaking, consumer services program for the entire Agricultural community.

In January 1997, the Program transitioned from collecting pesticides at farm and home sites to collecting them at designated sites on Pesticide Disposal Collection Days and at permanent Household Hazardous Waste sites.

Since its inception, the Pesticide Disposal Assistance Program has properly collected and disposed of over 1 million pounds of pesticides from North Carolina. In 1999, the Department sponsored 35 Single-day Collection Events. With the partnership of the NC Cooperative Extension Service, the Pesticide Disposal Assistance Program supervised the collection and disposal of 122,783 pounds and 39 drums of pesticide waste in 1999. Of this total, 19,404 pounds and 4 drums of Hurricane Floyd flood damaged pesticides were collected from 10 counties in eastern North Carolina. In 2002, the Pesticide Disposal Assistance Program safely supervised over 36 Collection Events and managed the regulated disposal of 148,201 pounds and 65 drums of pesticide waste. We continue to receive flood-damaged material from Hurricane Floyd at our Collection Days to this day.

Currently, the Pesticide Disposal Assistance Program also assists 9 counties with permanent HHW Programs and assists an additional 8 county-based single-day HHW Programs that are currently evaluating the possibility of establishing permanent HHW programs.

The Program's goal for the future is to assist and promote the establishment permanent Household Hazardous Waste Collection sites in those counties without permanent facilities. In addition, the Pesticide Disposal Assistance Program also intends to conduct approximately 40 Collection Day events per year throughout the state in an attempt to have a Pesticide Collection Day in each county in the state at least once every other year.

The Pesticide Disposal Assistance Program promotes a safer and cleaner North Carolina environment by reducing the amount of pesticides that, without this program, could potentially contaminate the drinking water, groundwater, streams, rivers, and land across the state. The North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services is proud to be a national leader with the Pesticide Disposal Assistance Program. With the continued support granted by the NC General Assembly, the Pesticide Disposal Assistance Program can continue to protect human health and the environment so that we will all have a safer place to live, and clean water to drink.

** CONTACT YOUR COUNTY COOPERATIVE EXTENSION SERVICE FOR SPECIFIC INFORMATION **
OR
 Contact DERRICK BELL, JEREMY MACIEJEWSKI, or KEN CRABTREE for Further Information at the
NCDA&CS - PESTICIDE DISPOSAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM
(919) 733-3556

NCDA&CS - Structural Pest and Pesticides Division 
1090 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1090 
Phone:(919) 733-3556