Portland is Reminding Residents Of Synthetic Pesticide Ban

Every morning when I wake up and look out my window I am reminded that the weather is getting warmer as I see more and more of my lawn that had been buried under snow for the last few months. Soon we'll be spending more time outdoors which, for some people, means it's time to give their yard some spring treatments with pesticides and weed & feed. Unless you live in Portland.

At the beginning of the year Portland put a new law into effect banning all synthetic pesticides from the city unless an emergency waiver is granted, according to the Press Herald. So now only organic treatments are allowed on the lawns and yards, gardens, landscaped areas, patios, sidewalks, driveways, parks and playing fields in Maine's largest city. And no pesticides are to be used within 75 feet of a water body or wetland.

The Press Herald reports that the only products permitted to be used are those on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Organic Program National List of Allowed and Prohibited substances and those classified as minimum risk under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Acts. 

Violations of this new law could cost up to $500.00 and can be reported to Troy Moon, who is the city’s sustainability coordinator, the paper reports.