If you are helping your parents clean out the shed or settling an estate and come across banned or unusable pesticides, Maine is offering a chance to dispose of them legally and without cost just in time for fall clean up. From the Maine.gov website:
The issue
Homeowners and farmers sometimes discover old, unusable or “obsolete” pesticides in the shed, garage of cellar. DDT, dioxin-containing 2,4,5-T and compounds of arsenic, mercury or lead all marvels in their day are now banned because of their hazards to human health, wildlife or to the environment. Sometimes pesticides become unusable because they freeze or get damp and solidify. Mainer’s who want to dispose of these wastes in an environmentally sound manner are often discouraged to learn that proper disposal of waste pesticides is prohibitively expensive.
The program
The Board of Pesticides Control (BPC) and the Department of Environmental Protection provide citizens with a responsible, free solution to their obsolete pesticide problem. Once a year, these agencies collect obsolete pesticides brought to sites across Maine. The materials are then shipped to out-of-state disposal facilities. Banned pesticides and pesticides that have become caked, frozen or otherwise rendered unusable can be accepted. .. The program is available to homeowners as well as non-corporate farmers and greenhouse operators
Do plan ahead and sign up.