Beaufort County residents with a stash of old and unused pesticides will get a chance to dispose of them safely on Tuesday, April 15.

The Beaufort County Cooperative Extension Agency is hosting a pesticide collection day, in which nearly all pesticide products, including banned and outdated pesticides, can be dropped off from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the county extension office.

“It’s just an opportunity to get it off your property or out of your house,” said Rod Gurganus, county agricultural extension agent. “Hopefully, it protects the environment by getting it disposed of properly and, more importantly, can prevent some kind of accidental exposure to the materials.”

Gurganus said the event is significant as it only comes around every other year, and it’s important people know about it: pesticides stored in unsupervised out buildings can put children and animals at risk for exposure. For those who’ve bought property, or have inherited property, and have stores of pesticides in out buildings and no idea what to do with them, now’s the chance to get rid of the chemicals safely.

Gurganus pointed out this event is limited to pesticides only.

“What we do want to stress is it’s not paint or fertilizers or any other cleaning materials. It’s strictly pesticides,” Gurganus explained.

There are many types of pesticides, however: herbicides that kill weeds, fungicides that kill fungi, and insecticides that kill insects.

“A pesticide is all those things, so a pesticide is a pretty broad term,” Gurganus said.

The program is being held in cooperation with the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ Pesticide Disposal Assistance Program and is at no cost to those dumping their pesticides.

There are a few items that need to be checked with the cooperative extension office before being brought to the site, according to a press release from the agency: pesticides with missing or unreadable labels; and pressurized pesticide gas cylinders or containers greater than five gallons in size. Residents are encouraged to save any part of a label to help identify the material, as unknown materials cannot be accepted.

Gurganus said the event will be held in the parking lot of the cooperative extension agency, at 155 Airport Road, Washington, so residents can pull in and drop off their pesticides. Residents of surrounding counties are invited to participate.

For more information, or to clarify whether a pesticide can be accepted, call Rod Gurganus at 252-946-0111.