SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- Residents of seven Illinois counties can dispose of unwanted agrichemicals for free this year through the Illinois Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Pesticide Clean Sweep program.

The department announced today it has scheduled two Clean Sweep collections in June. One will be held in Kendall, Grundy and Will counties in northern Illinois. The other will be held in central Illinois for residents of Bond, Christian, Macoupin and Montgomery counties. Farmers, retired farmers, nursery owners, private applicators and landowners who inherited agrichemicals with their property are eligible to participate.

“Disposing of agrichemicals is very costly,” Agriculture Director Chuck Hartke said. “Clean Sweep provides an economical way to get rid of pesticides that are no longer needed and may pose a safety hazard if left lying around. Plus, the state will assume liability for the proper disposal of the products collected.”

All agrichemicals must be registered prior to the collection date. Registration is necessary to allow the waste disposal contractor to prepare for the different kinds of materials that will need to be handled.

Forms may be obtained by calling the Illinois Department of Agriculture’s Pesticide Hotline at 1-800-641-3934 or visiting one of the local program sponsors. The forms must be returned by May 13 to the Illinois Department of Agriculture, Clean Sweep Program, State Fairgrounds, P.O. Box 19281, Springfield, IL, 62794-9281. Participants will be sent a reservation card indicating the date, time, and location of their collection.

Clean Sweep is funded through grants from the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Since its inception in 1994, the program has collected and safely disposed of more than 356,000 pounds of unwanted agrichemicals.

Following are the names and addresses of the program sponsors where registration forms can be obtained: