Optometric and readability analyses show that a person needs excellent eyesight and at least an 11th grade education in order to read and understand the information. Innovative Technology Touted for Cleanups Cleaning up pesticide wastes is one of the areas in which innovative technologies can save time and money, at least according to the companies selling the latest technology. Of the nearly 100 promising new technologies displayed at EPA's Fifth Forum on Innovative Hazardous Waste Treatment Technologies, several included pesticides in their list of targets. If enough indigenous bacteria are not present, more can be added to the site as needed, Higdem said. The process reportedly also works for other pesticides such as nitraniline, parathion, malathion, DDT, atrazine, chlordane, and endosulfan.
Corn gluten meal, a corn byproduct, offers an organic alternative to herbicides.
There are other natural organic fertilizers on the market, but none also kill weeds. Two Iowa State University researchers accidentally discovered the meal's potential in 1985. While using leftover corn meal from the university's food service as a growth medium, they found it inhibited weed grass germination. The pair received a patent to use the meal as a herbicide and expect it to be marketed for both home and agricultural crop use. Now they hope to extract the specific germination and root development component and produce a more effective and less expensive product.