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Agency of Agriculture urges stronger producer funding to cover rising pesticide-disposal costs
Summary
Agency staff said disposal costs for residential and business pesticides have grown and that existing funds are insufficient; the agency and solid-waste managers are discussing producer-responsibility mechanisms and possible increases to manufacturer contributions.
Steve Goyal, director of Public Health and Agricultural Resource Management at the Agency of Agriculture, told the Natural Resources & Energy committee that pesticide disposal is becoming more expensive and that the agency’s current reimbursement pool is inadequate to absorb rising costs.
Goyal said the state has provided $70,000 to $144,000 annually in recent years to defray pesticide-disposal costs and that costs charged by solid-waste management entities have risen substantially. He said farmers and small businesses use district solid-waste facilities, which typically treat farm-use pesticides differently from residential-use materials.
Committee members asked whether manufacturers already contribute through registration or other fees. Goyal said manufacturers pay registration fees and that a proposal under consideration would increase the amount manufacturers pay so the state could reimburse collection districts. He and committee members discussed that, at present, no standard producer-responsibility organization exists for pesticides in Vermont, unlike programs for batteries or paint.
Ending note: Agency and solid-waste officials said the state needs a mechanism to reliably defray disposal costs and that developing a producer-responsibility framework or raising manufacturer contributions are possible paths.
