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Home and Garden Pesticides HAZARDOUS WASTES G3453 Home and garden pesticides DISPOSING OF This publication describes the proper General information way to dispose of general-use pesticides, ome and garden pesticides are disinfectants, no-pest strips, moth flakes chemicals used to kill or repel and mothballs, wood preservatives, pet FROM THE HOME pests. They include many common H flea and tick powders, pet collars, and pet Jonathan Rivin household products that you may not shampoos. If you have questions about and Elaine Andrews consider particularly hazardous, such as how to dispose of specific home and disinfectants and flea collars, and they are garden products not described in this of five main types, fact sheet, please call your local or county • herbicides, which kill plants, public health department, solid waste • insecticides, which kill insects, department, or call the UW Extension Solid & Hazardous Waste Education Center. To • fungicides, which kill fungi or mold, Home and garden learn about alternatives to pesticide use, • rat poisons, which kill rats, and contact your county agriculture extension pesticides pose a health • disinfectants, which kill infectious agent. microorganisms. Please note: Toxicity guidelines change All home and garden pesticides are rapidly, so do not rely entirely on this fact hazard if misused, and if poisonous to some degree. Do not dispose sheet for information about hazardous of these toxic substances in the home drain materials. For additional advice, contact disposed of improperly or storm sewer. Share them with someone your county extension office, the Pesticide else who can use them, or save them for Program within the Wisconsin Department a household hazardous waste collection of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer can contaminate drinking program. Protection, or the National Pesticide All products included in this fact sheet Information Center. water sources and pose a pose a health hazard if misused, and if disposed of improperly can contaminate Pesticide use categories Pesticides are classified for “general use” drinking water sources and pose a long- or “restricted use” by the Environmental long-term health hazard. term health hazard. All pesticide labels Protection Agency, according to provisions include special signal words—such as in the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide “CAUTION,” “WARNING,” or “DANGER”— and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). These to alert you to the hazards of using the classifications have been developed to product. To reduce health hazards and protect people and the environment environmental contamination associated from inappropriate use of pesticides. with the use, storage, and disposal of home Pesticides that are classified as “general and garden pesticides, buy only as much as use” are relatively safe both for the user you need. and the environment. Pesticides classified as “restricted use” include two groups of products, those that have been banned from use and those that may be used only by individuals who have received special training and certification. Pesticide ratings often change, so if you have old pesticides around the home, be aware that they may Cooperative Extension now be restricted or banned. DISPOSING OF HAZARDOUS WASTES FROM THE HOME: General-use pesticides How to dispose of home Pesticides for general use General-use pesticides are products that Use them up or share them. If you share are currently available to the general public and garden pesticides general-use pesticides, they should be at hardware, grocery, garden, and other Disinfectants recently purchased and in their original community stores. They include rose dust, containers with legible labels. If this is not Read the label, as the disposal technique flea powder, home insect sprays, insect possible, follow the recommended storage depends on the main active ingredient. and rodent traps, and weed killers. Anyone procedures and save them for a household can use general-use pesticides relatively Old home products hazardous waste collection program. safely if they follow the label instructions Products labeled “germ proofing” or Liquid pesticides that have separated over carefully and observe safety precautions. “germ proof,” or products containing the winter can still be used after you remix chlorophenol, should be carefully them. Restricted-use pesticides packaged in plastic and saved for a Only certified applicators can purchase and household hazardous waste collection apply pesticides in this category. Products program. containing these pesticides should not Recently-purchased home be in the home. Recently-manufactured disinfectants Waste pesticide storage products containing these pesticides Share these with a neighbor, friend, or civic procedure include a label warning, “Restricted- group. If the product is a bathroom cleaner, • Carefully place the pesticide Use Pesticide.” However, you may have small amounts can be flushed down the in a clear plastic bag or plastic pesticides in storage that have had one or drain with plenty of water. Larger amounts container. more of their uses cancelled or regulated should be saved for household hazardous and are now classified as restricted-use waste collection. • Label the plastic container. pesticides. For example, since 2005 both Industrial strength disinfectants • Store it in a safe place, away from Dursban (clorpyrifos) and diazinon have Share them, or package and save them for children or pets. been banned for residential use. Check a household hazardous waste collection with your county agriculture extension program. Disposal of products in agent or the National Pesticide Information aerosol cans (pressurized Center for information on the proper Mothballs and flakes current classification of your pesticides. containers) Share them, if practical. To dispose of them, • Do not puncture or incinerate the wrap them in plastic and save them for can. Banned pesticides a household hazardous waste collection Technically, these pesticides fall into program. • If the can is partially full, save it the restricted-use category. However, for household hazardous waste all uses of pesticides in this group have No-pest strips collection. been cancelled according to FIFRA. You Share them, or wrap and save them for • If the can is empty, recycle it or won’t find these pesticides in recently- a household hazardous waste collection place it in the trash. produced home products, though they program. Fully used strips can be wrapped may be present in the home if you have in newspaper and disposed of in municipal old products or products manufactured for garbage collection. commercial use. For example, products containing Pesticide containers chlordane, DDT, 2,4,5-T (i.e. silvex), or high Rinse empty glass, plastic, or metal percentages of arsenic or strychnine have pesticide containers three times before been banned. In particular, check old disposing of them. Add the rinse water to dandelion and weed killer products for your spray mixture and apply it to sites banned 2,4,5-T (silvex) ingredients. where it is needed. Do not pour rinse water down drains or sewers. Dispose of rinsed containers in the trash. 2 HOME AND GARDEN PESTICIDES Pet flea/tick collars, powders, For more information Solid & Hazardous Waste Education Center and shampoos www4.uwm.edu/shwec/ Use them up, share them, or place them 715-346-2793 in clear plastic bags and save them for a household hazardous waste collection Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection program. You may dispose of empty http://datcp.wi.gov/Environment/ containers in the municipal garbage Clean_Sweep/index.aspx collection. 608-224-4545 National Pesticide Information Center Restricted or banned http://npic.orst.edu/ pesticides 800-858-7378 Do not use or share these pesticides. University of Wisconsin-Extension Instead, package them and save them for publications a household hazardous waste collection Disposing of Hazardous Wastes from the program. Follow the waste pesticide Home: Paints, Solvents, and Other Home storage procedures listed on the container. Improvement Products (G3454) Wood preservatives Disposing of Hazardous Wastes from the Wood preservatives are chemicals used Home: Waste Oil and Other Automotive to kill or repel the pests that cause wood Products (G3456) decay, and therefore they are classified as pesticides. Read the label to verify the main ingredient and then, depending on the product description, follow the advice below. If the product contains metal-based ingredients (such as copper or zinc naphthenate), use it up, share it with a neighbor, or save it for a household hazardous waste collection program. The impact of these preservatives on humans and the environment is not fully Household hazardous waste understood, but the product should be treated as a pesticide—in other words, collection programs as a hazard to human and environmental Home and farm products that health. contain chemical hazards can be taken to county-run hazardous Note: Pesticides contaminated with materials collection facilities Dioxin operating Clean Sweep programs. Pesticides containing silvex (also called Some counties have permanent 2,4,5-T) and wood preservatives containing collection facilities and others have pentachlorophenol (PCP or penta) are facilities that operate intermittently. contaminated with a form of dioxin that Contact your county office or is a suspected cause of some cancers the Wisconsin Department of and birth defects. Package the material Agriculture, Trade and Consumer carefully and label it for proper
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