Ten people quietly demonstrated and presented petitions Wednesday outside of Ace Hardware corporate headquarters, 2200 Kensington Court, in Oak Brook, asking that bee-killing pesticides be taken off store shelves.

Mike Durschmid, of the Organic Consumers Association, coordinated the demonstration for which some participants dressed in bee costumes.

Durschmid and other demonstrators delivered a wheelbarrow of boxes filled with what he claimed were nearly 500,000 petition signatures, collected mostly online, urging that the use and sale of pesticides containing neonicotinoids be stopped, and the sale of plants pre-treated with such products.

Ace Hardware issued a statement in May and again Oct. 30 stating the company is willing to move away from the sale of products containing neonicotinoids by the spring of 2019, as new and appropriate replacement products are offered by it suppliers.

However, Durschmid said that is not sufficient.

“They promised to move away from using neonicotinoids, but they have not said they are committed to completely moving them off the shelves,” he said. “Their stores are independently owned and operated, but they can impose, make it a rule that their stores cannot carry these products.”

Kate Kirkpatrick, who handles corporate media relations for Ace Hardware, said the company wasn’t issuing further comment.