User:Aycamach/Environmental impact of pesticides

Alternatives
Many alternatives are available to reduce the effects pesticides have on the environment. Alternatives to pesticides include manual removal, applying heat, covering weeds with plastic, placing traps and lures, removing pest breeding sites, maintaining healthy soils that breed healthy, more resistant plants, cropping native species that are naturally more resistant to native pests and supporting biocontrol agents such as birds and other pest predators. In the United States, conventional pesticide use peaked in 1979, and by 2007, had been reduced by 25 percent from the 1979 peak level, while US agricultural output increased by 43 percent over the same period.

Biological controls such as resistant plant varieties and the use of pheromones, have been successful and at times permanently resolve a pest problem. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) employs chemical use only when other alternatives are ineffective. IPM causes less harm to humans and the environment. The focus is broader than on a specific pest, considering a range of pest control alternatives. Biotechnology can also be an innovative way to control pests. Strains can be genetically modified (GM) to increase their resistance to pests.

Biopesticides such as canola oil and baking soda that contain curtain active ingredients from natural substances are an environmentally friendly alternative for toxic pesticides. There are three categories of biopesticides; microbial pesticides, plant-incorporated protectants (PIPs), and biochemical biopesticides. The alternatives to pesticides include a range of genetic material introduction to plants that target a particular pest, and active ingredients that control the mating and reproduction of certain pests or kill target pests. Biopesticides are affective in small quantities and degrade quickly making them an eco-friendly alternative to pesticides. They are often used in Integrated Pest Management (IPM) as well and has been an important component to the UK IPM strategy for its crop protection.

Waste and disposal
In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) suggests proper use of pesticides and disposal that follows federal or individual state guidance for farmers or commercial users. Commercial users of pesticides are told to follow the disposal instructions on the labels of the pesticides while using necessary safety measures for the disposal of hazardous waste. They are are also advised to call for assistance by their local agencies in the disposal of unwanted or unused pesticides.

Still are there environmental problems that emerge from runoff and other negative effects of pesticides. Runoff of pesticides into to wastewater and pesticide drift into other ecosystems has lead to research in the removal and remediation of pesticides in the environment. Research has been done on different methods to treat pesticide pollution including the use of activated carbon absorption and advanced oxidation processes. Different methods of pesticide removal require different costs and can carry different removal outcomes. Some methods require low cost techniques but many result in byproducts that require an extra cost for removal or unwarranted environmental impacts.

Activated carbon absorption
Due to the properties of activated carbon, different types have been researched as potential treatment for absorbing different pesticide species. Researchers found a use for activated carbon from tangerine seeds in the absorption of pesticides. Researches are utilizing this tangerine seed activated carbon in the removal process of carbamate pesticides that have been linked to an increased risk of cancer and other health risks. Absorption by activated carbon has been found to be a successful and cost-efficient way of removing pesticides.

Advanced oxidation process (AOP)
Advanced oxidation processes have been used to combat against the problem of pesticide residue on fruits and vegetables. AOP and its technologies have been used in the removal efforts of pesticide pollutants in wastewater using different chemical reactions to target different pollutants. Researchers have found this method of pesticide removal using coupled free chlorine/ultrasound to be successful at removing pesticide residue from vegetables.