Pesticide Container Recycling Collection Underway in SD

The South Dakota Department of Agriculture encourages all agricultural producers and businesses to take advantage of free pesticide container recycling collection in 37 locations across the state until Thursday, Sept. 6.
 
“Many solid waste facilities do not accept pesticide containers because they do not have enough staff to ensure proper preparation of containers for disposal,” said SDDA Agricultural Services Division assistant director Tom Gere. “The burning of these plastic pesticide containers is prohibited by state law. Recycling is the preferred way of disposal because containers are removed from the solid waste stream and the discarded materials can be reused.” 
 
Only two and a half gallon containers or smaller, that previously contained crop protection products, are accepted during these collection times. Larger containers will be collected at a later arranged date and time. Labels must be removed and containers must be triple or pressure rinsed to remove contaminants. Containers are ground up and sent to a facility where the plastic is often used to make drain tiles, speed bumps, fence posts, or for other agricultural uses.
 
“The Pesticide Container Recycling Program is an easy option for disposal,” said Gere. “If you have a large quantity of containers, or have no collections in your area, it may be possible to have SDDA staff come directly to your location and collect containers.”
 
SDDA provides the Pesticide Container Recycling Program at no cost to producers or businesses. The program has collected 2,624,844 containers, with 224,597 containers collected in 2017.
 
For a full schedule of container pick up times and locations, please visit https://bit.ly/2u8Fan0. For more information on these collections, please contact SDDA at 605.773.4432.