Why Do “Green” Pest Removal Practices Make A Difference?

One of the most encouraging things about the 21st century is the perception we now have about the world we live in. We see ourselves not as owners of this planet, but merely residents, sharing it with other people, species and organisms. We’ve still got a long way to go before we undo the damage to the environment that centuries of industrialization have inflicted—which still occurs even today—but one of the most important steps is having that understanding to begin with.

In the area of pest control, there’s a very delicate balance that pest control services need to maintain. It’s important to get results for clients and get a pest problem under control, but at the same time, we need to be mindful of our impact on the environment.

This has created a much greater awareness about the need for “Green” pest removal, but is this actually feasible? Can we make it work? We already have the answers to this, but before we look at them, let’s see what green pest removal ISN’T, first.

Organic Is Not Always Better

One of the biggest misconceptions people have about any green technique is that if it uses natural, organic materials or substances, then it must be safe and environmentally friendly. This is far from the case in the world of pest control. For instance, one of the most popular forms of traditional pest control for centuries is a 100% organic, natural solution, and it is called arsenic. Arsenic has its own element on the periodic table and naturally occurs throughout the world, making it easy to gather and use.

Despite the fact that it is a completely natural substance with many industrial uses, it is toxic to multi-cellular life forms when ingested in large amounts. This includes insects as well as mammals like mice, rats, dogs, cats and humans. So despite meeting the erroneous green perception that this is an organic substance, liberally spreading arsenic throughout a home can be an extremely dangerous action for every single occupant of a residence.

Other organic solutions may seem like good ideas because of “conventional wisdom,” but are ultimately not effective at all. The old perception of using rice to kill ants, for example, is predicated on the idea that once the ants eat the rice, they will die as the moisture in their stomachs causes the rice to expand in their body, and make them explode. While it’s true that moisture will make rice expand, ants don’t actually like eating rice.

So if green doesn’t mean organic, what does it mean?

Environmental Concerns

Real green pest removal is about the use of substances and techniques that have little or no significant impact on the environment. A bait system, for example, still uses chemicals, but the baiting system is designed to allow pests to carry the substances into the colony, feed them to others including the queen, and thus create a small, extremely localised effect, without serious environmental impact.

Green does not necessarily mean using the most natural solution but using the solution that has the least negative, least long-term effect on the environment. And when more natural organic solutions are used, they are deployed by experts that understand the best ways to distribute them for maximum effect.

When you employ a company that uses green pest removal techniques, their real expertise comes in the techniques themselves, and their understanding of environmental impact. These are what get the results people need without hurting the environment, not just the substances that are used.