United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Hazardous Waste Engineering
Research Laboratory
Cincinnati OH 45268
Research and Development
EPA/600/S9-85/030 Dec. 1985 ''•
Project Summary
Proceedings: National
Workshop on Pesticide Waste
Disposal, Denver, Colorado,
January 28-29, 1985
The National Workshop on Pesticide
Waste Disposal was held in Denver,
Colorado, on January 28-29, 1985.
This broadly scoped workshop was
jointly sponsored by the American
Chemical Society's Division of Pesti-
cide Chemistry, the American Farm
Bureau Federation, the American Soci-
ety of Agricultural Engineers, the As-
sociation of American Pesticide Control
Officials, Inc., the National Alliance of
Independent Crop Consultants, the
National Forest Products Association,
the U.S. Department of Agriculture,
and the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency's Office of Research and Devel-
opment and Office of Pesticide Pro-
grams. The primary objective of this
workshop was to provide a national
forum for assembled pesticide users,
pesticide producers, federal and state
agencies, and agricultural and environ-
mental researchers to address collec-
tively the complex issue of pesticide
waste disposal and to serve as a basis
for continued dialogue and interaction.
The proceedings of the workshop reflect
the two primary points of this gathering:
the status of EPA's pesticide and haz-
ardous waste regulations and the efforts
of government, academia, and industry
to address effectively the ramifications
of these regulations. Special sessions of
the workshop were devoted to appli-
cator disposal needs and to federal/
state pesticide regulatory requirements.
Additional sessions were concerned
with vairous disposal technology op-
tions. These proceedings contain 20
papers that report on the problems and
solutions of pesticide waste dispsoal.
This Project Summary was developed
by EPA's Hazardous Waste Engineering
Research Laboratory. Cincinnati. OH.
to announce key findings of the research
project that is fully documented in a
separate report of the same title (see
Project Report ordering information at
back).
After opening remarks and a welcome
from John G. Welles, the U.S. Environ-
mental Protection Agency (EPA) Regional
Administrator for Region VIM, Orlo R.
Ehart of the Wisconsin Department of
Agriculture's Trade and Consumer Pro-
tection Division presented an overview
that set the tone for the day-and-a-half
workshop. Mr. Ehart discussed the need
for a major agreement that balanced both
legal and technical concerns and address-
ed the difficulties and costs of the proper
disposal of pesticide wastes.
Since many of the attendees were
pesticide applicators, the workshop was
structured to give them an opportunity to
express their specific disposal needs.
William T. Keane, the moderator of a
panel of commercial applicators for this
session, described the state-of-the-art of
mechanical technology available to ap-
plicators as being inadequate for com-
pliance with the Resource Conservation
and Recovery Act (RCRA). Pesticide waste
disposal perspectives were discussed by
commercial aerial and ground applicators
as well as by a private applicator con-
cerned with on-the-farm disposal prob-
lems.
Raymond F. Krueger of the Office of
Pesticide Programs, U.S. EPA, provided a
brief summary of the federal regulation of
pesticide disposal Mr. Krueger discussed
the two federal laws administered by
EPA: the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide,
and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and the
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
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(RCRA). Uncertainties of pesticide users
reflect a lack of understanding concerning
these two legislative acts. This lack is
particularly evident with RCRA because
of its comprehensiveness and most recent
amendments. This paper introduced the
pesticide user to those parts of FIFRA and
RCRA relating to management of pesti-
cide-containing wastes that might be
generated during pesticide use. John
Masterman of the State of California
Department of Health Services explained
how California and other states may
impose pesticide waste regulations in
addition to those issued by the federal
government. This paper emphasized that
cleanup costs and potential civil and
criminal penalties are usually so great
that the long-term cost of improper
management far exceeds any short-term
savings that may be realized.
Dr. PhilipC. Kearney of the Agricultural
Research Service, U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA), presented a paper
entitled "Pesticide Degradation Proper-
ties." This paper explained the large
number of compounds whose persistence
and mobility in the environment are
simultaneously their most useful proper-
ties and those of greatest concern. Dr.
Kearney concluded the morning's special
sessions with an expression of concern
for the economics of disposal, which he
considered to be a major issue along with
the persistence and mobility patterns of
the most widely used herbicides and
insecticides.
The workshop continued with papers
reviewing the various approaches to the
disposal of pesticide wastes with em-
phasis on system descriptions, costs,
waste types, environmental and health
considerations, regulatory constraints,
and the advantages and disadvantages of
each technology option. Various physical,
biological, and chemical technology op-
tions were discussed and compared with
traditional treatment and disposal sce-
narios. Descriptions were made of a two-
stage adsorption, filtration, and/or co-
agulation treatment system that was
developed to remove pesticides from
contaminated wastewaters, and of a
treatment system based on recirculation
of pesticide-contaminated wastewater
through a bed of granular activated
carbon. Biological methods using micro-
organisms to destroy chemicals or metab-
olize pesticides were also discussed along
with options to dilute pesticides for
disposal. This treatment technology was
addressed from the perspective of the
applicator, whose needs are to find
simple, inexpensive, and environmentally
safe methods for pesticide waste disposal
that comply with federal and state regula-
tions. The chemical treatment options
presented for pesticide waste disposal
addressed detoxification and chemical
destruction through the use of oxidative,
reductive, hydrolytic, and/or catalytic
reagents. Other methods of degrading
pesticides were microwave plasma de-
struction, photolysis, hydrolysis, ozona-
tion, wet-air oxidation, chemical fixation,
and reductive degradation.
The land application options available
to pesticide waste generators of a pesti-
cide rinsate focused on land treatment
units, landfills, and surface impound-
ments. One presentation covered accept-
able disposal techniques, some of RCRA's
related requirements, and reuse of pesti-
cide rinsate. A paper on incineration
options summarized EPA's tests of high-
temperature incinerators with an over-
view of their typical waste destruction
performance. Few technical limitations
are envisioned in incinerating most or-
ganic agricultural pesticides or their
combustible containers because of the
successful experience with thermal de-
struction technologies.
After the papers on disposal technol-
ogies, a discussion was held on storage,
handling, and shipment of waste pesti-
cides under federal law. This topic in-
cluded the identification and classifica-
tion of waste pesticides, notification
requirements, the pretransport require-
ments, the Uniform Hazardous Waste
Manifest, recordkeeping, reporting, and
the farmer exemption. The transporter's
perspective was provided in a paper
covering the operation of the transfer
station, the type of company that would
be likely to operate the station, and the
transportation requirements.
Pesticide container management, which
includes recycling, reuse, and disposal of
empty pesticide containers, was the final
issue' of the workshop. Presentations
included the discussion of the Alberta,
Canada's province-wide container collec-
tion and disposal system and Maine's
returnable pesticides container program.
The workshop concluded with a panel
summarizing the program. Panel mem-
bers representing the USEPA, USDA,
academia, and industry provided remarks
and answers to questions through a
structured system designed to allow their
inclusion in the proceedings.
These proceedings are published so
that the material presented at this work-
shop can benefit as many people as
possible who express an interest in
solutions to the problems inherent in
pesticide waste disposal. Before the
workshop was concluded, planning began
for a 1986 National Workshop on Pesti-
cide Waste Disposal which will build on
the information contained in the full
report. These proceedings contain the
presentations made by representatives of
various EPA regulatory and research
groups, USDA, academia, and the pesti-
cide industry and thus document the first
venture of the Workshop Committee in
working toward environmentally sound
and practical solutionsfor pesticide waste
disposal
The full report was submitted in fulfill-
ment of Contract 68-03-3131 by JACA
Corporation under the sponsorship of the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
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This Project Summary was prepared by staff of JACA Corporation, Fort
Washington. PA 19034.
James S. Bridges is the EPA Project Officer (see below).
The complete report, entitled Proceedings: National Workshop on Pesticide
Waste Disposal, Denver, Colorado, January 28-29, 1985,"(Order No. PB 86-
119 898/AS; Cost: $16.95, subject to change) will be available only from:
National Technical Information Service
5285 Port Royal Road
Springfield, VA 22161
Telephone: 703-487-4650
The EPA Project Officer can be contacted at:
Hazardous Waste Engineering Research Laboratory
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Cincinnati, OH 45268
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Center for Environmental Research
Information
Cincinnati OH 45268
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