Resource Potential of Nonserviceable Pesticides

Ukraine has accumulated a significant amount of nonserviceable pesticides, in the process of their disposal the possibility of extracting valuable resources should be taken into consideration. At the same time, statistical data on the volume of non-serviceable pesticides formation are fragmented and incomplete. The total weight of pesticides used in Ukraine can be estimated at approximately 105 thousands t/year: herbicides — 60 000 t/year, fungicides — 17 000 t/year, insecticides — 10 000 t/year, others — 18 000 t/year. Among the pesticides used in Ukraine, the largest share is accounted for by those based on the active substance acetochlor (13 % of all active substances). The authors estimate that about 4—5 tons of pesticides end up in waste. Besides, some unknown amount of waste pesticides is formed in households. The article analyzes two main ways of resource recovery from waste pesticides: obtaining a useful product through chemical/ physicochemical transformations; using the products of pesticide incineration. Chemical transformations using active oxidation, photolysis, etc. allow obtaining valuable chemical products, for example, cyanuric acid (from nitrogen-containing pesticides), solvents (acetone, ethyl alcohol, ethyl acetate, isopropyl alcohol), chemical raw materials for the fertilizers production (from phosphate-containing pesticides). Some waste pesticides can be used as plant growth stimulants. The products of chemical decomposition of acetochlor, dimethachlor, propisochlor and other similar pesticides may have further application, for example, for alcohols production. However, the use of chemical methods requires the ability to accurately identify waste pesticides. Those pesticides accumulated over the past years are hardly possible to identify and the only way is the incineration. This method produces ash that can be used for road construction or as a foundation filler. This method is simpler, more affordable, and does not require pesticide separation.