Mercury in Vehicles
Mercury-containing switches control vehicle convenience lighting (turning the hood and trunk lights on and off) and some anti-lock brake systems. These switches account for more than 99% of the mercury in automobiles today, with the other one percent found as a gas in high intensity discharge (HID) headlamps and navigational displays. Each switch contains just less than a gram of mercury, but cumulatively they amount to 13 to 15 tonnes of mercury in vehicles on the road in Canada today. Mercury in automobiles is the single largest source of mercury in use in Canadian products.
Import auto makers ceased using mercury switches in the mid-1990s, and North American auto makers began phasing them out in 1995. It wasn't until model year 2003 that mercury switches finally stopped being used in new cars. This represents a huge step forward for the North American auto manufacturing industry, but there is a 10-15 year legacy of mercury switches that needs to managed.
SaskPower, Evraz and Wheat City Metals have a program to encourage the removal of mercury switches from automobiles being prepared for recycling. Automobile recyclers remove the switches and give them to Wheat City Metals. SaskPower pays a bounty on the switches to keep them out of the recycling stream.
Between 2003 and 2007, this program removed 170,000 mercury switches and prevented 195 kg of mercury emissions.
Cars have yet to become mercury-free. No manufacturers have yet agreed to eliminate mercury from HID headlamps--the use of these lamps is actually increasing. Mercury is also found in navigational displays, a feature which is becoming more and more popular in new automobiles .
(Source: Clean Air Foundation in June 2006 WasteWatch; updated Feb 2009 WasteWatch)
New federal restrictions on mercury
New rules, introduced under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, set restrictions for automobile manufacturers and steel mills. The rules will require car companies to ensure scrap cars are free of mercury switches before they're recycled. Vehicle manufacturers and steel mills will have to create a plan within six months with annual targets and public reporting, with an ultimate goal of reducing their mercury by 90 per cent in four years.
(Source: Recycling Council of Ontario in February 2007 WasteWatch)
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and ISRI celebrate mercury switch collection milestone
The U.S. EPA and the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries recently celebrated what they dubbed the One Millionth Mercury Switch Collection Milestone.
The milestone highlights the National Vehicle Mercury Switch Recovery Program partnership´s progress toward reducing the amount of toxic mercury released into the air, water and land from mercury-containing automobile light switches.
Mercury-containing convenience light switches were used in domestic cars built before 2003. The target for the first three years of the NVMSRP program, initiated in August 2006, is to capture 4 million vehicle mercury switches. Source: [Waste news]
Mercury switches are a major contaminant in vehicle recycling. Similar programs to encourage mercury switch removal exist in Canada.
(Source: Feb. 2008 WasteWatch)
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