Up to 208 tonnes of outdated pesticides (substances used for destroying insects or other organisms harmful to cultivated plants) collected on Georgian territory are being transported from a temporary storage facility to France for final incineration.

Such hazardous and obsolete chemicals have been stored in Georgia and other post-Soviet countries since the end of the Soviet Union. To reduce the danger posed by these pesticides and to remove them from the country, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), with funding from the European Union, launched a project in 2012.

The project has two objectives. The first includes a study of the life cycle of pesticides and a needs assessment and health-risk reduction for the farmers who used them. The second protects the environment by collecting, packing and transporting these chemicals for final disposal.

Polyeco/Tredi, the company selected through the tender, is in charge of transportation. Loading is going on according to international standards for the handling of hazardous goods.

“The Ministry of Environment of Georgia actively supports the process,” said Khatuna Akhalaia, FAO project consultant. “With the help of the ministry, all the required documents according to Basel Convention on the transboundary movement of hazardous waste were delivered to the transit countries to assure its safe transportation to its final destination.”