Bureau, La Salle counties to participate in Clean Sweep agrichemicals collection

Residents of 11 Illinois counties can dispose of unwanted agrichemicals for free this year through the Illinois Department of Agriculture’s agricultural pesticide Clean Sweep program.

A Clean Sweep collection has been scheduled in late summer for Bureau, Carroll, Henry, Jo Daviess, La Salle, Lee, Ogle, Rock Island, Stephenson, Whiteside and Winnebago counties. The collection, which rotates among Illinois counties, is open to farmers, retired farmers, nursery owners, private pesticide applicators, structural pest control applicators and landowners who inherited unwanted agricultural pesticides with their property.

“There are two main reasons to take advantage of this program,” Brad Beaver, bureau chief of environmental programs, said in a news release. “The department is able to provide the service free of charge thanks to a grant obtained from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. If individuals were to properly dispose of agrichemicals on their own, it could be expensive. Secondly, the state of Illinois, not the program participant, will assume liability for the proper disposal of all materials collected.”

Participants must register the products they plan to dispose of by July 26. Registration is required to give the waste disposal contractor time to prepare for the different kinds of materials being collected. Forms can be obtained either by calling the IDOA Pesticide Hotline at 1-800-641-3934, online at agr.illinois.gov/pesticides/pesticide-clean-sweep-program.html or by visiting one of the program sponsors.

Program sponsors in Bureau and La Salle counties include the Bureau County Soil & Water Conservation District, 312 E. Backbone Road, Princeton; the University of Illinois Extension, 850 Thompson St., Princeton; the Bureau Farm Bureau, 1407 N. Main St., Princeton; the University of Illinois Extension, 815 N. Orlando Smith Road, Room C223, Oglesby; the University of Illinois Extension, 1689 N. 31st Road, Suite 2, Oglesby; the La Salle County Farm Bureau, 4201 Columbus St., Ottawa; and the La Salle County SWCD, 1691 N. 31st Road, Ottawa.

Completed forms should be mailed or faxed to the Illinois Department of Agriculture. The mailing address is: Clean Sweep Program, Illinois Department of Agriculture, State Fairgrounds, P.O. Box 19281, Springfield, IL 62794-9281. The fax number is 217-524-4882. Participants then will be sent a reservation card indicating the date, time and location of their collection.

The Clean Sweep program began in 1990 in Illinois. Since its inception, the department has held 54 collection events throughout the state and collected 662,517 pounds of material from 2,301 participants.