Good practice for storage and sustainable use of pesticides and biocides
Storing your pesticides and biocides to prevent spills, and alternatives to using pesticides and biocides.
Store all chemicals in an area where you can contain spills. Keep chemical containers within an impermeable secondary containment area that will hold liquids if the main containers leak or break.
Secondary containment areas include bunds, bunded or spill pallets, sump pallets, bunded storage units and storage cabinets with integral sumps.
If you have one storage container in a bund, the bund should be able to hold at least 110 per cent of its volume.
If you have more than one container, your bund should be able to contain at least 110 per cent of the volume of the largest container or 25 per cent of the total volume you are likely to store, whichever is greater.
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Manage your pesticide use
Keep an inventory of the pesticides and biocides you have on site, and details of when you received them and when you should dispose of them if you don't use them up. This will help you to avoid having more than you need, and therefore reduce your waste.
Check the pesticides register of approved products to see if products you use are going to be withdrawn - .
Producers, suppliers, distributors, importers, and exporters of plant protection products are legally required to keep records of the plant protection products they produce, import, export, store or place on the market for at least five years.
A professional user of plant protection products must keep for at least three years, records of the plant protection products they use, containing the name of the plant protection product, the time and the dose of application, the area and the crop where the plant protection product was used.
Alternatives to pesticides and biocides
It's a good idea to only by the amount of pesticides and biocides that you need. Think carefully whether you really need to use a pesticide at all. If you use a pesticide when you don't need to you:
- will be wasting money
- will increase the possibility of pests becoming resistant
- could damage the treated area
You can use techniques that reduce the use of pesticides and biocides, including biological and cultural control methods, and using disease-resistant varieties of plants. Cultural control methods include crop rotation and techniques to maintain crops in peak health so they are less susceptible to pests. This is known as integrated pest management (IPM) - .
IPM is a key element in using pesticides sustainably. , primarily to assist farmers with understanding the requirements, however the general principles must be implemented by all professional users of pesticides.