Transportation, Storage, Spill Response, and Container Disposal
Transportation
Keep containers upright, secured, and labeled; inspect for leaks before loading. Never carry pesticides in the passenger compartment or with food, feed, or personal items. Carry shipping papers and emergency response information as required for hazardous materials, display required DOT placards, and know the emergency phone number. Transport only what you need and unload promptly.
Storage
Store in a locked, posted, well-ventilated area away from food, feed, seed, livestock, and children. Keep products in original labeled containers, off the floor, on shelves with secondary containment, and separated by type (herbicides away from insecticides/fungicides if cross-contamination is a risk). Maintain an inventory, rotate stock (first in, first out), and keep a spill kit, absorbent, and PPE nearby. Protect from temperature extremes and freezing per label instructions.
Spill response - the three C's
- Control the source: stop the leak, upright the container, plug or overpack.
- Contain the material: dikes, absorbent socks, soil berms; keep it out of storm drains and waterways.
- Clean up: absorb, sweep, place in a labeled container; decontaminate the area; do not hose material into drains. Protect people first (evacuate, ventilate, PPE), then call for help if the spill exceeds what you can safely handle, and report as required by law.
Container disposal
Triple rinse (fill one-quarter to one-fifth with water, agitate, drain into the spray tank, repeat twice) or pressure rinse (30 seconds, with rinse water to the tank). Let containers drain, then puncture or crush and deliver to a recycling program or dispose of per label and state law. Never burn, reuse, or leave containers open.
Traps
Questions that have you washing the spill into a storm drain, or reusing a container for water or feed, are always wrong.
Rule of thumb: control, contain, clean up - and rinse water belongs in the spray tank, not on the ground.