5.6 Disposal of old stocks

The withdrawal of recommendations for pesticides often raises questions at Government, distributor, through to farmer levels, about how to dispose of existing stocks of products. 

The problem should primarily be seen as an administrative one: i.e. the situation should be avoided in the first place. 

With sound policy and administration backed up by appropriate scientific support (see recommendations), future trends in pest control methods can be foreseen: it should be possible to avoid the use of substances which are subject to concern.

Stocks of older compounds should therefore be used up, and withdrawn from the marketplace, long before they are banned. On a small scale, applying older stocks of chemicals to crops is usually considered the most practical way of using them up, provided they are relatively safe and still registered in the country of use. 

Safe disposal of obsolete chemicals is very expensive and can only take place in one of a limited number of specialist facilities.

The comments above only apply when there is a substantial time to go before withdrawal of a given product. In the context of any new regulations concerning residues on imports, readers should be aware of the significant time lag (frequently >1 year) between the cocoa farm and the port of entry, so pesticides (or any other practices) that might cause problems, should not be used during the final season (and preferably for 2 seasons) before the deadline.