Clean Sweep Programs - US Environmental Protection Agency

Summary of West Virginia Waste Pesticide Disposal ProgramIn 1994, the Department of Agriculture, with grant funding, conducted a pilot AgChem CollectionProgram in the eastern panhandle area. Preregistration was required and the unwanted pesticides werecollected from individual farms. Actual collections resulted in larger quantities than those recorded in thepreregistration inventory. As an example of the disparity, one farmer registered 100 pounds of pesticides.Realizing it truly was an amnesty program, he provided an additional 5,000 pounds to the AgChemCollection Program. The pilot program accounted for the collection of 56 tons of agricultural pesticides.In 1995, the Eastern Panhandle and Potomac Valley Soil Conservation District provided a grant for$25,000 to fund an AgChem Collection Program. Approximately 60,000 pounds of pesticides werecollected at a cost of $2.50 per pound. Participants, based on financial necessity, were selected on a firstcome-basis.In 1996, the Department of Agriculture conducted a collection and disposal event using a groundwater grant. Because so few applicators participated, the program was “topped off” with a collection froma state prison farm and a defunct demonstration farm. A total of 18,688 pounds of pesticides was collected.Cost of the program was $1.57 per pound.YearWest Virginia Table 1 - Quantity of Pesticides CollectedQuantity ofPesticides(pounds)Number ofParticipantsAverage Quantity ofPesticides per Participant(pounds/participant)ProgramCostAverageCost (perpound)1994 112,000 no data NA no data NA1995 60,000 30 2,000 $150,000 $2.501996 18,688 11 1,699 $29,340 $1.571997 17,500 no data NA no data NA1998 31,242 25 1,250 no data NATOTAL 239,430 More than 66 1,666 for the years with data NA NANA = not applicable