The Local Government Association launched an attack on the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs last week for failing to alert councils to a European ban on garden pesticides earlier (see letsrecycle.com story). Under the Plant Protection Products Directive, householders will be forbidden from using certain pesticide brands from January 2004, and banned from storing them from April 2004.
A spokesman for DEFRA said there was still time to comply. “For local authorities the key date is January 1 next year – that's when people will no longer be allowed to use these products. But most gardeners stop using pesticides in the autumn and we don't anticipate that there will be huge problems with disposal come January 1,” he said. “I am not saying we couldn't have done it earlier but we are still quite early on in the game.”
The LGA likened the situation to the 'f;ridge mountain' that followed the government's failure to realise the requirements of new regulations on fridge disposal. But the DEFRA spokesman denied pesticides would cause a problem on the scale of fridges. “That's a slight misreading of the problem. Every year a certain number of products goes out of use. This year there are 81 and last year about 70 products went out of use for other reasons – there's a turnover of products.” In addition, because the manufacturers have been involved in discussions with the government from early on, many products have already been withdrawn, he said.
DEFRA's efforts have concentrated on making farmers and growers – the main users of pesticides – aware of the ban on use. It is thought that the government had also been in contact with local trading standards officers involved in enforcing the ban on sale which began on July 25, 2003. But many waste management officers appear to have been kept in the dark.
Flood
Roland Arnison, manager of the National Household Hazardous Waste Forum, said “nobody knows” whether the increase in waste pesticides would create a crisis. “I have heard reports from some councils that they've seen increases in some pesticides already, but I'd; hesitate to call it a flood,” he said.
The NHHWF alerted its members, including 110 local authorities, and another 500 stakeholders, to the pesticide ban in March 2003 by an e-mailed newsletter. Mr Arnison defended the decision not to publicise the coming ban further to all local authorities. “We have got a rather fine line to draw between duties to the wider stakeholders and making sure that we give our members good benefits. We are funded solely by membership fees so we must make sure our members get benefits they wouldn't otherwise get,” he said.
Roy Watkinson of the Environment Agency commented: “When I came to understand the time scales involved, we obviously wanted to know if there was going to be an immediate impact with people rushing to get rid of their waste pesticides, and it was clear that wasn't the case. It should be a fairly routine matter, even though there should be a little hump coming up.”
According to the NHHWF, pesticides can only be disposed of in high temperature incinerators – and there are just two of these in the UK. But a survey carried out by the organisation in January 2003 revealed that 73% of local authorities already dispose of household chemicals through CA sites or doorstep collections – but they do not publicise the service because of its high cost.
DEFRA said it was working on advice for pesticide disposal methods and the possibility of any grants to help councils cover the costs.
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