03/15/05 Sign up for pesticide roundup

Wash Ag March March 15, 2005 An eastern Washington Pesticide Roundup is being held by the Washington State Department of Agriculture at seven collection sites from April 19th through April 29th. The roundup is a way for farmers, residents, business owners and public agencies to safely dispose of agricultural and commercial grade pesticides without paying a waste disposal fee. The April collection sites will be near Spokane, Ritzville, Othello, Pullman, St. John, Dayton and Pasco. To participate you need to sign up by March 18th. You can do that by calling toll-free 877-301-4555. Joe Hoffman who coordinates the program for the WSDA, says last year a record 218, 787 pounds of unwanted pesticides were collected statewide. Hoffman: "But sometimes you can get less pounds but the material is more of a priority. So sometimes old cylinders of material that are stored in the shed that are nearing the end of the life of the cylinder, they may not represent a lot of pounds, but if they got lose they could certainly be a health issue at that local property there." Over one-point-six million pounds of waste pesticides have been properly disposed of since the program began in 1988. I'm Bob Hoff.