Nueces County to Host a Pesticide Waste Collection Event – January 31, 2024
By Corrie Bowen
County Extension Agent
Wharton County
The Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA), in cooperation with Texas AgriLife Extension, operates agricultural pesticide waste and pesticide container collection activities statewide. The next pesticide waste collection event will be held Wednesday, January 31, 2024 from 8AM – Noon at the Richard M. Borchard Fairgrounds, 1213 Terry Shamsie Blvd, Robstown, TX 78380. Participation in collection events is free and anonymous for agricultural producers. These events are intended to provide a safe, efficient, and economical way to properly dispose of banned or unwanted pesticides.
In response to the passing of 2019 Texas House Bill 191, TDA established a Pesticide Disposal Fund that covers the cost of administering pesticide waste and pesticide container collection activities. State-funded pesticide disposal events had been absent in Texas since 2011 leaving a large burden on Texas farmers. To date, the Pesticide Waste Collection Program has safely disposed of over 1 million pounds of pesticide waste since the program was initiated by TDA.
The goal of this program is to properly dispose of unwanted or unusable pesticides to prevent human exposure, prevent use of banned pesticides on crops, and to eliminate the potential source of environmental contamination.
The Richard M. Borchard Fairgrounds is 152 miles, or a 2 hour and 15 minute drive from Wharton, Texas. If you have been holding unused pesticides for a while now, I encourage you to take this opportunity to dispose of your pesticide waste at the Nueces County event in January 2024. These collection events are held across the State of Texas each year, and many times only one or two are held each year. Last year the collection events were held in Pecos, Texas and in Uvalde, Texas. This event in Nueces County is as close to Wharton County as it could get for Wharton County for at least the next year or two. To add more to my point, the last collection event in Wharton County was held in October 2018, and the next closest event to Wharton County was held in June 2022 in Victoria County. After the Nueces County event, TDA has already announced the next collection event to be held in Lamesa, Texas (far West Texas) for April 2024. If transporting old pesticide containers, you might consider placing old leaky containers inside of a chemical resistant, plastic reservoir, such as an empty 300 gallon tote, or cut out the bottom of a plastic drum to contain any spills while in transit.
To sign up to receive updates from TDA on upcoming Pesticide Collection Events, go to https://www.jotform.com/222414614102036
A complete flyer for the January 31st Pesticide Waste Collection Event can be viewed and printed by going to
https://www.texasagriculture.gov/Portals/0/Files/ACP/Pesticide/Waste%20Colllection/2024_Nueces_Co_Pesticide_Waste_Collection_Event.pdf?ver=QNiRJAfQLOqiv7wea3HxXQ%3d%3d
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