Pesticide Clean Sweep Program

The Illinois Department of Agriculture, in cooperation with the Illinois Department of Public Health and with funding from the US EPA, annually conducts agricultural/structural pesticide clean sweep program collections for the residents of various counties in the state, depending on the availability of funds. Local sponsors usually included county Farm Bureau offices, University of Illinois Extension offices and Soil and Water Conservation District offices. All chemicals collected during this program are registered with the Department prior to the actual collection date. By pre-registering the products, the Department is able to determine which products were eligible for collection. The majority of products turned away from past collections were not pesticides. 

​​These items included crop oil, surfactants, stickers, foaming agents, etc. Waste pesticides are usually collected from 8:30 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. The costs for the collections are paid for through a grant from the US EPA. Since the inception of the program in 1990, the Department has held more than 54 collection events throughout the state and has collected more than 662,5167 lbs of material from approximately 2,301 participants.

• Agricultural Pesticide Clean Sweep Program Form

2024 Clean Sweep

A “Clean Sweep” collection has been scheduled in late summer for Bureau, Carroll, Henry, JoDaviess, Lasalle, Lee, Ogle, Rock Island, Stephenson, Whiteside and Winnebago Counties, IDOA announced today. The collection, which rotates among Illinois counties, is open to farmers, retired farmers, nursery owners, private pesticide applicators, structural pest control applicators and landowners who inherited unwanted agricultural pesticides with their property.

“There are two main reasons to take advantage of this program,” said Brad Beaver, Bureau Chief of Environmental Programs. “The Department is able to provide the service free of charge thanks to a grant obtained from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.  If individuals were to properly dispose of agrichemicals on their own, it could be expensive. Secondly, the state of Illinois, not the program participant, will assume liability for the proper disposal of all materials collected.” 

Participants must register the products they plan to dispose of by Wednesday, July 26.  Registration is required to give the waste disposal contractor time to prepare for the different kinds of materials that will need to be handled.  Forms can be obtained either by calling the Illinois Department of Agriculture’s Pesticide Hotline at 1-800-641-3934 or by visiting one of the program sponsors listed below. Completed forms should be mailed or faxed to the Illinois Department of Agriculture. Completed forms should be mailed or faxed to the Illinois Department of Agriculture.  The mailing address is: 

Completed forms should be mailed or faxed to the Illinois Department of Agriculture. The mailing address is:  

Clean Sweep Program,
Illinois Department of Agriculture
Bureau of Environmental Programs
State Fairgrounds,  P.O. Box 19281
Springfield, IL, 62794-9281

The fax number is (217) 524-4882.  Participants then will be sent a reservation card indicating the date, time and location of their collection. 

2024 Clean Sweep Sponsors: