Non-biocidal alternatives as substituts for insecticides | Umweltbundesamt

Non-biocidal measures to control insects can be used to reduce the use of chemical insecticides and their unintended effects on non-target organisms and the environment to the minimum necessary. This is especially of relevance for products containing active substances which were identified as candidates for substitution under the Biocidal Products Regulation 528/2012. According to Article 23 of the Regulation, non-chemical control or prevention methods need to be considered during the comparative assessment. These alternatives need to present a significantly lower overall risk for human health, animal health and the environment, should be sufficiently effective and shall not have other significant economic or practical disadvantages.

The consideration of alternatives in the comparative assessment is strongly impeded by missing compilations of potential non-chemical substitutes including their evaluation. For this reason, this website provides information on potential non-biocidal substitutes to insecticides that have been evaluated according to defined criteria. While measures to prevent harmful insects from posing risks to health or materials are the most important measures to reduce the use of insecticides to the minimum necessary in practice, this compilation focuses on curative non-biocidal alternatives. This is because the comparative assessment as laid down in the BPR require more or less one-to-one substitutes to insecticides and does not consider functional substitution of pest management measures yet.

For insecticides, traps and thermal techniques may be considered as the most important one-to-one substitutes. They are already independently evaluated according to two different “Blue Angel” eco-labels of the German Federal Government, both including criteria on evaluation of efficacy.

Blue Angel
The Blue Angel for “Non-Toxic Pest Control and Prevention” (DE-UZ 34) includes non-toxic agents and techniques for the control of hygiene pests and materials pests (except wood). The basic award criteria needing to be fulfilled to be awarded with the eco-label are published in English. The products awarded with the eco-label are published on the website of the Blue Angel.

The Blue Angel for “Thermal Processes for Indoor Pest Control” (DE-UZ 57b) includes thermal techniques to control insects. The basic award criteria needing to be fulfilled to be awarded with the eco-label are published in English. The products awarded with the eco-label are published on the website of the Blue Angel.

Next to thermal techniques, one-to-one substitutes is the usage of beneficial organisms or machinery removing insects (e.g. vacuum cleaners removing oak processionary moths). However, no efficacy guidance is yet available to evaluate their efficacy.

If you are aware of any other independent evaluations of non-biocidal alternatives, that should be listed on this website, please contact us via the contact form.