See guidance from the experts at UF/IFAS on what to do with old pesticides that you may find during Spring cleaning.

If you decide to do a little Spring cleaning, it’s possible that you’ll come across some old pesticides. What should you do with them? The experts at UF/IFAS shared information on dealing with unused pesticides in a recent blog. See the highlights below.

Guide for Old Pesticides

The blog article shared the following on old pesticides, including a playlist to help make cleaning easier:

“Can you still use it? Let’s start with the stuff you have, but you don’t think you will use. Can you share it with a friend? Word of caution here, you can’t share pesticides that are Restricted Use Products (RUP), as there are license requirements for that. You also can’t sell that pesticide, yes that means you can’t trade it for tasty adult beverages either. That would count as distributing a pesticide. BUT if you have a neighbor that could use the little bit you have left, you could share.

IF the product you don’t want still has a label you can always apply pesticides to a registered site (the places the label tells you that you can apply it). However, I am going to guess if you want to get rid of it, that is because you either can’t use it or fear it is too old…

If you are able to use up the pesticide, you may wonder “Can I recycle this container?” Well good news, you certainly can BUT not with your other recycling. You must recycle it with those capable of doing that, and luckily there are resources to help:

How do I get rid of it?…Or perhaps you would like to dispose of it by applying to a site, but you don’t even know what it is anymore. There is no label, and it looks old enough to be DDT! Well now it needs to be gotten rid of. Notice I did not say “thrown away” you can’t just dump this in the garbage. You must dispose of it properly. Check with your county for local support and possible hazard waste disposal sites and guidance. If you find a lot of old stuff, there are companies that will take care of that for you: https://fldeploc.dep.state.fl.us/www_rcra/reports/CommHWTransport.asp but your best source is going to be your local solid waste department.

If you are an agricultural operation or commercial business that has unwanted pesticides, the Operation Cleansweep might just be for you. This is a program offered by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which will come to your business to collect old pesticides. This is NOT meant for household waste, not available to anyone other than businesses, and ONLY available while funds are available. For more information contact Theresa Chandler (Theresa.chandler@fdacs.gov).”

See how to determine if your pesticide is still good in a later blog.

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