A program within the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services is expanding its work in western North Carolina thanks to new federal funding tied to Hurricane Helene recovery.
The funding comes through a larger $61 million grant awarded to the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to support hazardous waste, recycling and debris cleanup efforts following the storm. As part of that effort, NCDA&CS received a $4.3 million subaward to support pesticide collection and disposal work led by the department’s Pesticide Disposal Assistance Program (PDAP).
That subaward is helping PDAP build on more than a year of increased activity in Helene-affected areas.
The storm, which caused widespread damage across western North Carolina in September 2024, created an immediate and ongoing need to safely dispose of damaged, flooded or no-longer-usable pesticides. With extra need for pesticide disposal, there came an extra desire for help from PDAP.
“Typically, our goal is to be in a county every other year or an adjacent county every six to eight months,” explained program director Derrick Bell.
So beyond that normal schedule, there have been special requests made and particular needs identified in the months following Helene. For example, Bell said Buncombe County leaders requested a special collection day in the fall of 2024 to coincide with some cleanup efforts after the storm.
“[Along with our regular statewide collections schedule] we’re paying particular attention to western North Carolina,” Bell said. “If we don’t get calls from them, we’re reaching out to see how affected counties could benefit from pesticide collections.”
That approach started immediately after the storm. In addition to Buncombe County, special collection events were held in Swain and Polk counties too. It has continued ever since, with PDAP responding to requests and working with local partners to identify additional needs.
Now, with grant funding in place, those efforts are expanding.
Since receiving the funding, PDAP has hosted 35 collection events in 19 Helene-affected counties, collecting more than 51,400 pounds of pesticides. The need is expected to continue for years. Bell said that after Hurricane Floyd he remembered people five years after the storm using PDAP to dispose of pesticides that had been flooded.
“It can take a while for people to recover and clean up and really realize what they have,” Bell said. “We’re going to see pesticides from Helene-affected areas for years.”
The grant supports not only additional collection events, but also the infrastructure and resources needed to handle a higher volume of material safely and efficiently. That includes funding for contractor services to properly dispose of collected pesticides. It’s one of the program’s largest expenses.
The grant will also pay for additional equipment, travel and staff support. PDAP is also planning to add a third staff member to help meet increased demand, while continuing to rely on coordination with pesticide inspectors, Extension agents and agricultural retailers to identify collection needs.
Some of the most significant work involves materials PDAP does not typically handle.
Through the grant, the program is expanding its ability to collect and manage mini-bulk pesticide containers. Those tanks – sometimes called “tote” or “IBC” tanks – are about 200-to-300-gallon tanks. These containers are often found on farms or at dealer sites and may have been damaged, partially emptied or left exposed during the storm.
The funding will support a contractor-led effort to identify, collect and properly dispose of or recycle those containers, while also providing education and training to help prevent similar issues in the future.
The grant is also allowing PDAP to invest in new tools to improve how sites are identified and assessed. That includes the use of drones to evaluate hard-to-reach areas, particularly in places where roads or infrastructure were damaged.
In addition, the program is building out its disaster response capacity with equipment such as portable generators, trailers, satellite communication devices and strategically placed storage buildings that can serve as staging areas during future emergencies.
“If you can remove a troublesome tank before an event, it’s not there to create a problem in the future,” Bell said, pointing to the program’s growing focus on prevention as well as response.
Based on past hurricane recovery efforts, PDAP anticipates collecting as much as 100,000 pounds of pesticides per year from Helene-affected areas over the next five years. The grant is structured to support that long-term need, with funding available for up to five years.
Ultimately, the work is about more than cleanup. It’s about protecting people, agriculture and the environment during a long recovery process.
“People need the help, and we’re providing it,” Bell said. “We’ll see the extra need for a while.”