Pesticide Related Waste Management
There is a lack of guidance for people involved in the management or disposal of small quantities of pesticide-related waste, so hazardous chemicals are often left lying around in both rural and urban areas, municipal dumps and even children’s playgrounds. The reuse of contaminated containers for domestic purposes, which is a common practice in many developing areas, is another major health risk.
Guidelines on management options for empty containers [2008] (also available in French and Spanish)
These guidelines provide advice on the management of empty pesticide containers. The reuse of empty pesticide containers for storing food and water, represents a major health risk. Containers abandoned in the environment can lead to pesticide pollution in soil and groundwater. A container management scheme can minimize these risks and is an important element in the life cycle management of pesticides.
Environmental Management Tool Kit Series
Based on the experience gained over the past 20 years, FAO has developed a series of tools which allow a risk-based approach to dealing with obsolete pesticide and associated waste stocks considering the potential impact on both public health and the wider environment. This has led to the development and publication of the Environmental Management Tool Kit Series. The methodologies presented in these tools have been developed to provide a sound technical baseline for implementation of pesticide and associated waste inventory, obsolete stock site prioritization, safeguarding and practical methods to assist countries in the formulation of strategies for the management of pesticide contaminated land.
- FAO Pesticide Disposal Series 12: Environmental Management Tool Kit for Obsolete Pesticides(EMTK) - Volume 1 [2009] (also available in French and Spanish)
- FAO Pesticide Disposal Series 14: The Preparation of Inventories of Pesticides and Contaminated Materials Volume 1 [2010] (also available in Arabic)
Other tools related to obsolete pesticides
- FAO training manual for inventory taking of obsolete pesticides
- Guidelines for the management of small quantities of unwanted and obsolete pesticides [1999] (also available in French, Spanish and Arabic)
These guidelines provide guidance and advice on what to do with the small quantities of unwanted, unusable and obsolete pesticides that are often found on farms, in homes and in many other situations. One of the guidelines’ main objectives is to stop the current practice of advising pesticide users to burn or bury empty pesticide containers and bury, or send to landfill, other pesticide-related wastes. - Disposal of bulk quantities of obsolete pesticides in developing countries [1996]
These guidelines have been prepared as a collaborative effort of FAO, UNEP and WHO with the overall objective of promoting principles and practices for environmentally sound management of pesticides. They address the specific, but widespread problem of large obsolete stocks of pesticides in developing countries and the need for their containment and disposal. They offer guidance on what to do with obsolete pesticides, and warn against improvised disposal methods that may cause severe environmental and health problems. - Prevention of accumulation of obsolete stocks [1995] (also available in French, Spanish and Arabic)
The objective of these guidelines is to raise awareness about the mechanisms through which obsolete pesticide stocks accumulate and to enhance the formulation of policies and procedures aimed at prevention of such accumulation. The guidelines analyze the causes of this accumulation and recommend how it can be prevented. They provide guidance to the governments of developing countries, aid agencies and the pesticide industry. - Pesticide storage and stock control manual [1995]