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Chemical Safety

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A collection of empty pesticide and herbicide containers.

What to Do With Unusable Home and Garden Pesticides

As a gardener or homeowner, you may be wondering what you can do with your leftover pesticide products (including herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides), or maybe you bought a new home and the garage or basement is full of mysterious containers with no labels. If products are stored in garages or other areas with a lot of temperature changes, these products may become entirely unusable. So what to do?

a black and yellow respirator mask with blue protective gloves in the background.

Wearing a Respirator? Then No Facial Hair for You!

At commercial or private applicator re-certification trainings, it is possible to hear the phrase, “Don’t wear a respirator if you have facial hair!” Facial hair, whether a full beard or stubble, may prevent respirators from sealing to the skin or interfere with their valve function.

Man wearing a long-sleeved shirt and waterproof gloves loading pesticide-contaminated clothing into a washer. Courtesy: NDSU Extension

How to Properly Launder Insecticide-Contaminated Clothes

It is important to prevent insecticide exposure from occurring when laundering contaminated or potentially contaminated clothing.