Waste Pesticide Disposal Program Coming to Central Montana

Jesse Fulbright, MSU Liberty County Extension

On September 18-21, the Montana Department of Agriculture’s Waste Pesticide Disposal Program will be coming to central Montana to four different locations.  I recognize that central Montana is a large swath of land so I have additional information so you can get to a location closest to you.  The program will be in Havre on September 18^th, Great Falls on September 19^th, Bozeman on September 20^th and Columbus on September 21^st.

With any program, there are basic question I’m sure you wanted answered.  First, waste pesticides are any pesticides that are unwanted or unusable.  Pesticides become unusable when they have been improperly stored, become contaminated, if their uses and registrations have been cancelled or if labels were lost or have become unreadable.  The program accepts empty metal pesticide containers as waste. 

Photo courtesy of Washington State Department of Agriculture

Secondly, how do you participate?  First complete a MDA pesticide disposal registration form.  You can google MDA pesticide disposal registration form and download it from the website as well.  The deadline for that is September 10^th.  Once pre-registered you will be notified of the exact location of the collection site in your area.  The actual drop-off will take less than 15 minutes.

If you have a considerable amount of waste pesticides you might be interested in knowing that the first 200 pounds are free.  There is a fee of $.50 per pound for amounts over 200 pounds.  If pesticides are pressurized or contain dioxins or heavy metals there might be a higher fee.  Licensed pesticide applicators will receive a monetary credit when they participate in the disposal program. 

There will not be any penalties.  The disposal program is a non-regulatory service program that offers pesticide users the opportunity to dispose of unwanted and unusable pesticides.  Please take advantage of this service this year while it is in our general area.

For further questions, I would encourage you to contact your local county Extension office or the Montana Department of Agriculture at 444-3144.