Fast forward to 2008 where Jon Gersbach, Texas AgriLife extension agent for ag and natural resources in Milam County, gets calls routinely from residents who find old glass jars of mystery substances while cleaning up debris in an outbuilding on a farm.
Unidentified poisons have no business laying around where they might come in contact with unsuspecting adults, curious children, wildlife or leak into a water source. What is the finder to do?
Yesterday’s pest control poisons and today’s chemical refuse from households and agricultural operations may be disposed of at a free collection event from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday in the Milano Livestock Exchange. The list of acceptable items also includes paint, batteries, fluorescent light bulbs and computers.
Texas AgriLife Extension Service in Milam County, the Milam County Leadership Advisory Board and Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is sponsoring the collection event to offer the public an opportunity to dispose of products safely and properly.
From Sept. 1, 2007, to Aug. 31, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality paid its disposal contractor, Phillips Reclamation Services of Houston, $178,180 to collect and recycle or properly dispose of 113 tons of agricultural waste brought to disposal sites in one fiscal year, said Ted Hazen, manager of TCEQ’s pollution prevention and education division.
During collection events, it is “not unusual for someone to come in and say, ‘I had this out in the barn, and I am not sure what is in this container,’” Hazen said. “We do testing to find out what it is. We do take unknown waste from farmers and ranchers and sometimes we do a field test. The contractor has a chemist on staff who usually figures it out.”
TCEQ maintains a regional collection history that is useful in identifying compounds used in agricultural operations. In an area where cotton is king, for example, a chemist would look for substances used in cotton fields, Hazen said. Some materials are analyzed in a lab.
“It’s not unusual for us to get banned pesticides that can’t be sold in Texas any more,” Hazen said.
The collection event in Milam County is open to anyone in Texas, Gersbach said. Disposal events routinely are conducted around the state, but it took three years for TCEQ to approve Milam County as the site.
“A lot of people travel long, long distances to get rid of these items, and I heard that someone drove 300 miles to a collection site, ” Gersbach said.
“It’s a real effort to try and help ag producers clean up what they have, potential health hazards and environmental hazards. I have had a lot of people calling, saying they found old glass jars, and they have no idea what is in them,” he said. “This is a great time for people to clean out their barns, shops, garages, sheds, and dispose of these items properly. Otherwise, you run the risk of it being there and some animal, person or child getting contaminated with it.”
Precautions should be taken when handling, loading and transporting these products, Gersbach said.
n Wear protective clothing, including long pants, long-sleeved shirts, closed-toe shoes with socks, gloves resistant to the particular chemical being handled and eye protection.
n Wash hands and arms completely with soap and water before eating and drinking.
n When loading, ensure that the container is not broken or otherwise compromised. If so, place the entire container into another container that is capable of safely holding the product.
n Use caution when loading to ensure that containers cannot shift, topple or blow out of the vehicle in transit.
n Avoid placing items inside vehicles, as in trunks or passenger compartments. Ensure items do not shift and place items tightly together and tie, strap or tarp them so they will not move.
“Remember that we are bringing these items to a designated pickup point simply because they are pollutants that we cannot properly dispose of ourselves, so use diligence in transporting them to avoid potential pollution of roadways while making the trip,” Gersbach said.
At the collection site, TCEQ will record residences, and the type of items being disposed of, but do not ask participants’ names, Gersbach said.
Assisting with the collection will be volunteers from the Little River Basin Master Gardener Association and El Camino Real Master Naturalist Chapter, as well as members of the extension leadership advisory board in Milam County.
Ronnie and Stephen Lastovica are providing the Milano Livestock Exchange for the disposal, Gersbach said.
While the extension service is publicizing items acceptable and those that will not be permissible, the list is not exclusive, Gersbach said.
“My recommendation to people is if there is something they want to bring and are not sure it will be accepted, bring it anyway. The worst case scenario is you will go home with it, and will have information on how to dispose of it properly.”
Gersbach advised the public to take advantage of the disposal event because “we probably won’t have another one in Milam County for five years or longer.”
