More than 5 million pounds of pesticides collected

The Agricultural Abandoned Pesticide Program collected 85,974 pounds of unwanted pesticides in 13 counties during 2021 collection events. Since 2005, the Agricultural Abandoned Pesticide Program has overseen the collection of 5,351,431 pounds of unwanted pesticides in counties across Arkansas.

“The Arkansas Department of Agriculture is proud to work with our partners in administering the Agricultural Abandoned Pesticide Program,” said Arkansas Secretary of Agriculture Wes Ward. “Events like these, held annually throughout the state, help ensure safe and proper disposal of unwanted pesticides and prevent them from potentially polluting our environment.”

Participation in collection events is free and anonymous to farmers and other non-industrial landowners. The program is funded through pesticide registration fees. Pesticide collection events have taken place in every county in the state.

Commonly collected items include old or outdated pesticides such as calcium arsenate, sodium cyanide, lindane, chlordane, and 2,4,5-T. Registered pesticides, like glyphosate products and 2,4-D, that are unusable because they have been exposed to the elements or have been held over from previous growing seasons also can be collected.

Two collection events were held in the following 13 counties in 2021: Conway, Crawford, Cross, Franklin, Johnson, Logan, Pope, Scott, Searcy, Sebastian, Stone, Van Buren, and Yell.

The Agricultural Abandoned Pesticide Program is conducted in cooperation with the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service, Arkansas Farm Bureau, and the Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment. Representatives from these agencies make up the Abandoned Pesticide Advisory Board. This board selects county sites for collection events. Priority watersheds are a large consideration for the Advisory Board in choosing counties/regions for site collection.