PLEASE NOTE: These bulletins, published since 1997, are historical. The content is not updated.
Congratulations to King County agencies for reducing their use of pesticides. The King County Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program has released their first progress report. The report, published after one year of implementation, says: "Overall, the total use of pesticides decreased 50 percent from 1999 to 2000."We reported last year that the County developed an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Program by adopting policy and guidelines to reduce overall use of pesticides on public lands. An instrumental part of this implementation has been the formation of the King County IPM steering committee, facilitated by the King County Hazardous Waste Management Program. Formed in 1999, the steering committee has been working to implement the King County Executive Order to promote IPM practices in the county's internal operations. The first priority has been to phase out the most hazardous pesticides, which are listed as "Tier One" products in the guidelines.
The first status report about IPM in King County Government can be found on the King County website
Excerpts from the report:
Reduction in pesticide use
In 1999 King County used 8,800 pounds (more than four tons) of pesticides in its operations, 88% of which were in the "most hazardous" (Tier 1) category targeted for phase-out. Overall, the total use of pesticides decreased 50 percent from 1999 to 2000. The use of Tier 1 products decreased 62 percent, while use of Tier 2 products increased by 34 percent as employees shifted somewhat to less-hazardous chemicals.
Pesticide disposal
Many county departments cleaned out pesticides that they would not need or would no longer be able to use. These departments took advantage of a free pesticide collection and disposal event offered by the Washington State Department of Agriculture. Over 2,800 pounds of products such as Diazinon, Dursban and weed-and-feed products were removed from storage in county facilities. County employees saved thousands of dollars in disposal costs by taking advantage of this free state service.
Integrated Pest Management in King County
Environmental Purchasing Program
The King County Environmental Purchasing Program assists County agencies in implementation of King County Executive Policy CON-7-1-2, which requires agencies to use recycled and other environmentally preferable products wherever practicable.
The program assembles information about these products and makes it available to specific agency users who can evaluate them and develop applications in County projects.
These environmental purchasing bulletins contain information about the results of product evaluations and other accomplishments of County agencies. We hope this information will help you find ways to use recycled materials in the work of your agency and that you will contact us if we can help you with further information or if you have suggestions.
Environmental Purchasing Program King County Procurement Services
Published: September 13, 2001
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Bulletin List
Updated: September 13, 2001
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