Prairie State Wire

The Illinois Department of Agriculture (IDOA) is inviting farmers and agrichemical facilities to participate in a free recycling program for agrichemical containers. The initiative will start in mid-July and run through August, with collection sites across the state. The recycled materials will be used to produce shipping pallets.

"This annual program provides a convenient way for farmers and agrichemical facilities to dispose of empty pesticide containers," stated IDOA Director Jerry Costello II. "Containers that would otherwise end up in the garbage can be taken to the nearest collection site instead."

Only high-density polyethylene, #2 plastic agrichemical containers that are clean and dry will be accepted. Participants must rinse them and remove all caps, valves, metal, labels, booklets, and foil seals. They also need to cut off the top and bottom of plastic drums and cut the side from top to bottom.

Mini-Bulk and Intermediate Bulk containers can also be recycled through this program with specific preparations required. G. Phillips and Sons, LLC offers services for picking up these containers throughout the year.

This program is a cooperative effort involving several organizations including the Illinois Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Container Recycling Council, GROWMARK, Inc., Illinois Fertilizer and Chemical Association, G. Phillips and Sons, LLC, Illinois Farm Bureau, and University of Illinois Extension.

For more information or to obtain a brochure about the program, contact the Illinois Department of Agriculture at 1-800-641-3934.

Collection sites have been set up across various counties with specified dates for container drop-off:

Permanent collection sites include locations in Pike County at Logan Agri Srv., Inc., Lawrence County at Klein Flying Service in Lawrenceville; White County at Klein Flying Service in Carmi.

Single-day collection sites operate on different schedules throughout July into early August at various locations such as Southern FS in Pulaski County on July 17th PM; Bockhorn Ag., Inc in Randolph County on July 18th AM; Gateway FS in Monroe County on July 18th PM; among others listed by date along with contact details for each site coordinator.