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Border Pesticide Collection Events
Imperial County/Mexicali Pesticide Disposal Project
The U.S.-Mexico Border 2012 Environmental Program is a collaboration between the United States and Mexico to improve the environment and protect the health of the nearly 12 million people living along the border. The bi-national program focuses on cleaning the air, providing safe drinking water, reducing the risk of exposure to hazardous waste, and ensuring emergency preparedness along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Border 2012 is a results-oriented program that takes a “bottom-up” approach to addressing the environmental and public health needs of the border region. Issues and projects are identified and implemented at the local level. The program encourages stakeholder involvement through a variety of opportunities.
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EPA and SEMARNAT (Secretaria de Medio Ambiente Y Recursos Naturales) are providing an opportunity for farmers in the Imperial County/Mexicali border region to properly dispose of unwanted or obsolete pesticides that they have on their farms.
The collection is expected to remove approximately 37,000 pounds of pesticides from the border environment. Over 30 growers have registered to participate in this two-day event, beginning on March 26 in Imperial and continuing on Thursday, March 27 in Mexicali. This project is important because it will reduce the risk to residents of these border areas from exposureto pesticides. Improperly stored pesticide containers can eventually break down and products may leak into the ground, contaminating soil and water. Materials collected during these events will be properly disposed in a hazardous waste incinerator. Cooperating agencies in this project, along with US EPA Region 9, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation and the Imperial County Agricultural Commissioner in the United States, and SEMARNAT and ISESALUD (Instituto de Servicios de Salud en el Estado de Baja California) in Mexico.
These Border 2012 projects demonstrate measurable ways to prevent the improper use and storage of obsolete pesticides on both sides of the border. These projects have also led both the United States and Mexico to consider how they might create more sustainable ways for farmers to legally dispose of unwanted and obsolete pesticides.
This is not the first event of its kind; a pilot pesticide collection event took place in the sister cities of Yuma, Arizona and San Luis, Sonora in August 2006. Over 70,000 pounds of waste pesticides were collected during that event. Cooperating agencies included EPA Region 9, Arizona Department of Agriculture, AZ Department of Environmental Quality in the United States, and SAGARHPA (Secretaria de Agricultura, Ganaderia, Recursos Hidraulicos, Pesca y Acuacultura del Gobierno del Estado de Sonora) and SEMARNAT in Mexico.
