The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and the Virginia Pesticide Control Board announced Thursday the results of the recycling program for empty plastic pesticide containers.

The 2009 Plastic Pesticide Container Recycling Program collected and granulated a total of 45,115 containers or approximately 46,850 total pounds of properly-rinsed plastic pesticide containers at 28 sites, including 17 localities and 12 licensed dealers and commercial applicators. Localities included the counties of Brunswick, Culpeper, Dinwiddie, Madison, Mecklenburg, New Kent, Northampton, Orange, Prince George, Pulaski, Rockingham, Suffolk, Isle of Wight, Surry, Sussex and the cities of Chesapeake and Virginia Beach.

Since its inception, the Plastic Pesticide Container Recycling Program has collected a total of 976,000 containers, which equates to well over a million fifty thousand pounds of plastic granulated and remanufactured into new products.

The program is an environmentally-responsible alternative for container disposal. Granulated chips are transported to recycling facilities and fabricated into items such as pallets, fence posts, field drain tiles and parking stops, keeping the containers out of landfills.

To participate in the Plastic Pesticide Container Recycling Program, a locality must apply to VDACS and agree to collect, inspect and store the properly-rinsed containers until granulation. VDACS provides up to $1,875 in reimbursement costs to each participating locality to offset the cost of the program. The program is available statewide each year.