State Urges Mainers To Dispose Of Waste Pesticides

AUGUSTA, Maine - The state is urging Mainers to dispose of unusable and waste pesticides that could instead end up in the trash.
 
The Maine environmental and agricultural departments are hosting the free annual program in October.
 
The agencies plan to collect the unwanted chemicals and take them to out-of-state disposal facilities to be incinerated or reprocessed.
 
Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Commissioner Walt Whitcomb says that pesticides thrown in the trash or poured down the drain contaminate drinking water and cause environmental damage. He says the program has kept more than 99 tons of pesticides out of trashcans or sewers since it started in 1982.
 
Pesticides include insecticides, herbicides, fungicides and rodenticides.
 
Republican Gov. Paul LePage says the program's consolidated disposal costs are about $2 per pound.