Mercury Reduction at Home

Q: What happens if mercury spills in my home?
A: When mercury-containing products are broken in your home, elemental mercury (the silvery metal liquid) can evaporate and be inhaled. From the lungs, the mercury is quickly transported to the brain (and to the fetus, in pregnant women) where it causes damage to the central nervous system.

Q: Can I put mercury in the trash?
A: No. If mercury-containing products are put in the trash, they will be incinerated or put in a landfill. The mercury can then be carried through air and soil and collect in lakes and rivers. The mercury that ends up in water may be transformed into methylmercury, the most toxic form. Methylmercury builds up in the flesh of fish and may ultimately end up back on your dinner table. The amount of mercury in a single thermometer is enough to contaminate all the fish in a lake with a surface area of 20 acres.

Q: What should I do with mercury-containing products?
A: Call your local Board of Health to find out where to take mercury products for recycling. By turning in mercury thermometers for safe recovery, we play a significant role in protecting the environment and ourselves from mercury exposure. At the same time you are turning in mercury fever thermometers, look around your home for other sources of mercury - for example, thermostats, candy thermometers, decorative barometers and manometers. Bring these with your fever thermometers for safe recycling. Watch out for openings (especially on barometers and manometers) where the mercury might leak out if the unit is tipped over.

Q: What other steps can I take to reduce mercury?
A: Whenever possible, choose products that are mercury free or lower in mercury to begin with.

• Switch light bulbs and lighting fixtures to low wattage fluorescent lights. The amount of mercury contained in fluorescent lighting is less than the mercury emitted to the environment by generating the additional power required for higher wattage incandescent lights. It is also easier to capture the mercury from fluorescent lights than to remove airborne mercury generated by power plants.
• All fluorescent light bulbs contain mercury, so recycle them to insure that the mercury is properly handled.
• Replace mercury-containing thermostats with programmable electronic thermostats. Programmable thermostats are mercury free, digital, convenient and cost effective since they offer energy savings by automatically lowering the thermostat at night or when no one is home.
• Choose energy efficient appliances. Because power generation plants are a major source of mercury pollution, burning less coal and oil (that naturally contain mercury) for generation of electricity will reduce the mercury released to the environment.