Do you apply pesticides as part of your job? If you do you will be interested in this report, which lays out the industry demographics for amenity pesticide applications in the UK.
The data shows us who's applying what, where they are applying it and why.
There does however remain some doubt about the report's accuracy due to the small amount of sources surveyed. Thanks to Louise of Progreen for pointing me to this report.
Amenity pesticides in the United Kingdom 2012
This report presents information on the use of amenity pesticides in the United Kingdom during the
2012 calendar year within the following overall sub-sector headings: Infrastructure (roads, railways
and aquatic use), Industrial (pipes, cables, commercial contracted and construction, for land
clearance only), Public Authorities (contracted and educational institutes, footpaths and public
spaces), Residential (gardens, trees and landscapes, residential dwellings and multi-dwellings), Turf
(farms and commercial contractors), and Golf.
The data on the area of pesticide treatments and the amounts of active substances applied were obtained by detailed interviews with manufacturers, distributors, specialist contractors and other users to obtain estimates at a national level.
In 2012, an estimated 772,371kg of active substances were applied to 329,614 hectares. Of this total, herbicides accounted for 96% by weight (93% by area; approximately 306,716 hectares), fungicides accounted for 3% by weight (4.4% by area; approximately 14,661 hectares) and insecticides (including the molluscicide, metaldehyde) less than 1% by weight (2.5% by area; approximately 8,238 hectares).
Of the six amenity ‘sub-sectors’ studied, <Infrastructure> accounted for 57% of the area treated with
pesticides (45% by weight of active substance applied), especially main and local roads, with <Public Authorities> (16% by area, 33% by weight) and <Turf> (13% by area, 10% by weight) being the next largest types. Collectively, the sub-sector <Public Authority> and the segments ‘Road:main and Road:local’ (from the sub-sector <Infrastructure>) accounted for 52% of the area treated with
pesticides (172,217 hectares) and 61% by weight (473,882kg).
Approximately 70% of all pesticide applications were targeted against mixed infestations of grass and broadleaf weeds, with sprays against broadleaf weeds alone accounting for a further 22%. Pesticides applied for the prevention and/or control of turf diseases was the next largest target at 5%.
A total of 15 formulation types were identified during the course of the research. Of these just four -
soluble liquids (56%), soluble concentrates (19%), granules (15%) and emulsifiable concentrates
(11%) - accounted for 99.6% of the weight of active substances applied in 2012.
The report is long but recommended reading: Download a copy here
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