Pesticides, obsolete Disposal

Countries should establish relevant action plans with respect to identification, neutralisation and safe disposal of obsolete stocks of pesticides and other chemicals. 

Kamatz, A.Obsolete pesticide disposal project. Department of Agriculture, Food and Markets,... 

Obsolete Pesticide Stocks in Developing Countries Strategies, Policies, and Practical Steps for Their Disposal... 

To address this situation, the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH launched a pilot project in 1990 geared to the disposal of obsolete pesticides. Since then, environmentally sound disposal operations have evolved into a range of activities within the field of technical co-operation. The GTZ project disposed of more than 1800 tonnes of obsolete pesticide stocks in 8 developing countries in Africa and Asia. It also carried out several large-scale analytical surveys and prevention measures. 

Obsolete pesticides are also a barrier to sustainable development in emerging countries. The disposal of obsolete pesticides is an expensive process. Developing countries have neither the financial nor the technical resources to cany out di sal operations, and therefore they have to depend on external funding. The money they need for disposal operations cannot be used for the development of the country, such as improvement of the infrastructure, the health sector or education projects. 

Obsolete pesticides and associated waste are classed as hazardous waste. Extensive training and sophisticated equipment are needed to deal with obsolete pesticides safely and appropriately. In industrialised countries entire facilities are available for the removal, transport and environmentally sound disposal of hazardous waste. In developing countries there is little expertise and no appropriate facilities for the management of hazardous waste. The problem becomes more difficult as a consequence of inadequate infrastructure, the wide dispersion of obsolete stocks and their deteriorated condition. The options available for the management or environmentally sound destruction of obsolete pesticides are extremely limited. 

The biological, chemical and physical techniques tend not to have what it takes for complete and ultimate disposal. The potential advantages would include, for example, reduction of the waste volume and/or of the environmental risks. While various research institutions in industrial countries are investigating new methods of disposal, each of them tends to focus on certain specific problems, usually on a small scale. Such methods and technologies are of only limited value for developing countries with real problems, where large quantities of obsolete pesticides and baseline pollution are in need of disposal. Often the waste in question does not consist of a pine substance but of a mixture made iq> of several substances that are no longer individually identifiable. In almost all... 

The removal and destruction of obsolete pesticides is an expensive process. The cost of toxic-waste disposal, and the procedures to be employed, depend on a number of parameters, such as the quantity and type of waste, the type of packaging, the location where the waste is stored and the infrastructure, as well as the method of disposal. After all, it costs between US 2,500 and 4,500 per tonne to return waste to an industrialised country. The above figures cover the cost of everything from stocktaking to final incineration. 

The problem of obsolete pesticide stockpiles and their disposal as well as the prevention... 

The problem of obsolete pesticide stocks in developing countries became serious at the beginning of the 90s because of the risks for human health and the environment. After a decade with a number of individual disposal operations organised and financed by national aid organisations, the international community has put this issue on their agenda, aiming to solve the problem through a number of international conventions and activities, e.g. ... 

GTZ Publication, Obsolete Pesticides, a Dangerous Legacy. Result of a Pilot Project on the Disposal of Obsolete Pesticides, can be found under http //www,gtz.de/chs... 

FAO Pesticide Disposal Series 2 Prevention of accumulation of obsolete pesticide stocks . Provisional Guidelines, Rome, 1995. 

United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. (2001). Baseline study on the problem of obsolete pesticide stocks. FAO Pesticide Disposal Series 9. Retrieved March 11, 2007 from http // www.fao.org/docrep/003/X8639E/X8639e00.htm... 

Total costs to remove obsolete pesticides from Africa alone are estimated at more than US 100 million. Most of the money spent on disposal of pesticides in Africa has been financed by the Netherlands, Germany and FAO. Denmark recently committed US 6 million for pesticide removal and capacity building. At... 

The preferred way to dispose of obsolete pesticides is high temperature incineration. None of the developing countries — except for a few newly industrialised nations — have facilities for the safe and environmentally sound disposal of pesticides, and pesticides are re-packaged and shipped to a country with a hazardous waste destruction facility. In the past, waste has been shipped to Europe. 

Table 10. FAO preliminary irwerAory of obsolete pesticide stocks requiring disposal.

Obsolete stocks of pesticides are estimated at more than 90 tonnes, including approximately 60 tonnes of DDT. The country lacks appropriate disposal facilities and thus obsolete pesticides have either been dumped indiscriminately or stored indefinitely. 

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