Agricultural chemical collection program
Farmers in the McKenzie and Middle Fork Willamette watersheds disposed of more than
44 tons of obsolete pesticides, fertilizer, waste oil, solvents and other chemicals
during a first-of-its-kind "roundup" during fall 2006 and winter 2007.
The Eugene Water & Electric Board and other local and state entities organized and
sponsored the agricultural chemical disposal effort to help growers get rid of materials
that could pose a threat to the sources of drinking water for more than 250,000
people in Eugene, Springfield and other portions of the Southern Willamette Valley.
Ten collection events were held at Lane County's Household Hazardous
Waste Collection Center in Glenwood. Collectively, 126 farmers disposed
of:
- 49,000 pounds of pesticides
- 5,500 pounds of old fertilizer
- 3,475 gallons of waste oil and solvents
- 824 gallons of various other chemicals (paints, acids, oxidizers, caustics)
Most of the substances were obsolete or could no longer be used due to environmental
regulations prohibiting their use. Until the collection event, most farmers also
had few options for disposing of the unwanted chemicals. In addition, the cost to dispose
of these chemicals ranges from $5 to $9 a gallon and can add up to hundreds or thousands of
dollars for farmers. Many of the chemicals brought
to the disposal events had been stored on farms for several decades.
The project was made possible by a $40,200 grant awarded to EWEB by Gov. Ted Kulongoski.
The funds were a portion of the newly created Oregon Governor's Fund for the Environment.
An additional $5,800 in grant funding came from the Oregon Department of Environmental
Quality 319 funds. Project partners also contributed $70,000 in cash and in-kind assistance
to the project, for a total of $116,000. Other
partners were the Springfield Utility Board, Oregon Department of Environmental
Quality, Lane County Waste Management, OSU Extension Service, Oregon Health Division,
McKenzie Fire & Rescue, Mohawk Valley Fire, Springfield Fire & Life Safety, East
Lane Soil and Water Conservation District, and the Region 2 HazMat team.
Call Nancy Toth at (541) 685-7438 or Karl Morgenstern at (541) 685-7365 for more information
about the project.