State program offers free disposal of agrichemicals for Marshall-Putnam residents

Residents of Marshall and Putnam Counties can dispose of unwanted agrichemicals for free this year through the Illinois Department of Agriculture’s agricultural pesticide Clean Sweep program.

The clean sweep collection has been scheduled for late summer for Fulton, Henderson, Knox, Marshall, Mercer, Peoria, Putnam, Stark, Warren and Woodford counties.

The clean sweep program began in 1990 in Illinois. Since the inception of the program, the Department has held 52 collection events throughout the state and collected 626,669 pounds of material from 2,196 participants.

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.

Acting Bureau Chief of Environmental Programs, Brad Beaver, said that there are two main reasons to take advantage of the program.

“The Department is able to provide the service free of charge thanks to a grant obtained from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,” Beaver said. “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 27. Registration is required to give the waste disposal contractor time to prepare for the different kinds of materials that will need to be handled.

Forms can be obtained either by calling the IDOA Pesticide Hotline at 1-800-641-3934, online or by visiting one of the program sponsors.

Completed forms should be mailed or faxed to the Illinois Department of Agriculture at 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.