PLAINS — Many of us have old stuff lying around that we should probably get rid of.
But when that waste is potentially harmful, like pesticides, it can cause problems beyond clutter.
The Montana Department of Agriculture is taking spring cleaning seriously with a series of pesticide disposal events.
“We see all sorts of things,” said Carli Davis, the agency's waste pesticide disposal program coordinator. “We're still getting DDT. We've gotten strychnine oats.”
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Pesticides can be harmful to people and the environment, so the department is making a big push to help properly dispose of them through the Montana Pesticide Stewardship Partnership Program.
“We do this program to keep all waste pesticides out of Montana landfills,” Davis said.
The idea is to make proper disposal more accessible throughout the state, to get old pesticides out of sheds, keep them out of trashcans and rivers, and into the hands of trained professionals.
The first 200 pounds are free, and after that drop-off costs $1 per pound of pesticides.
“This program also was designed for old homesteads or inherited places that have barns full of this really old stuff to get rid of, and we still get a lot of that, a lot of old outdated products,” Davis said.
For many, including Sanders County hay farmer Eric Kuntz, the program is doing just that.
“We had some older product that was left over from the previous owner and we wanted to dispose of it properly,” he said.
Kuntz was excited about the opportunity and came to drop off plenty. Now it's in the hands of the professionals.
“We're just packaging up and sending that off to get incinerated,” Davis said.
The Montana Department of Agriculture works to hold events across Montana.
The agency is two years into a five-year grant from the Environmental Protection Agency intended to protect the Upper Columbia River Basin and the people and river downstream.
The grant allows the Montana Department of Agriculture to host 10 events a year, in the spring and summer, instead of one each fall.
“Otherwise, it's just once a year in the fall and it rotates between western, central, and eastern Montana,” Davis said.
Kuntz said disposal days like this are needed.
“I believe there's quite a bit of that older product out there that needs to be disposed of properly, instead of being flushed down the toilet or burned, dumped in the landfill,” he said.
This year, the department kicked off with spring stops in Kalispell, Plains and Drummond. This summer, drop-offs will be in Polson on June 30, in Hamilton on July 1 and in Butte on July 2.
Click here for additional information on summer drop-offs and how to register for the events.
