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Consumer Products: Related Links
Mercury has properties that have led to its use in many different products and industrial sectors. It conducts electricity, forms alloys with other metals and expands in response to changes in temperature and pressure. Some mercury compounds act as preservatives, and are used in medicines and other products.
While some manufacturers have reduced or eliminated their use of mercury in products, there are still many existing items in the marketplace that contain mercury. The list below represents some of the major consumer items found to contain mercury.
Tables of consumer and commercial products that may contain mercury: these tables describe how the mercury is used in a host of products, from airflow/fan limit controls, to jewelry, to shoes, to tilt switches. The tables also include recommended management practices for disposing of these products.
Regulations under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) include specific requirements for handling and disposing of mercury-containing equipment under the universal waste rule. More information about universal wastes.
On this page, you'll find information from EPA and other organizations about:
Antiques
Batteries
Dental Amalgam
Fluorescent Light Bulbs
Necklaces and other Jewelry
Paint
Switches and Relays
Thermometers
Thermostats, Heat Generators and Gas Flow Regulators
Related Links
Antiques
Some antique clocks, barometers, and mirrors contain elemental mercury.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a report in June 2007 that describes several releases of elemental mercury from antique clocks, barometers and mirrors, and lists measures to help prevent unintentional releases of elemental mercury from antiques.
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The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection provides a Web page
that describes how the Connecticut Mercury Education and Reduction Act applies to mercury-containing antiques and provides advice about handling and transporting them. -
Antiques dealer Charles Edwin includes detailed instructions about how to prepare a mercury-containing barometer for a short or long move.
Batteries
Mercury prevents internal discharge and gassing in batteries.
Since 1994, federal law has limited the amount of mercury
added to button cell batteries, and has prohibited intentional
addition of mercury to standard household batteries (dry-cell
sizes A, AA, C, D, etc.).
- EPA’s Product Stewardship site presents information about the environmental effects of mercury in batteries.
- Information about the Battery Management Act is located on the Laws and Regulations page.
Dental Amalgam
The silver fillings used by dentists contains a mixture of metals
such as silver, copper, tin, and mercury.
- NEWMOA, the Northeast Waste Management Officials'
Association, provides a fact sheet on mercury use in dental amalgam and information
on best management practices for using mercury in dental operations.
- EPA’s Safe Mercury Management Program's Web site also provides state-by-state information about medical and dental mercury management practices.
Fluorescent Light Bulbs
Mercury is used in the long fluorescent, compact fluorescent, and
high-intensity discharge (HID) lamps. Visible light is produced
when the mercury in the lamp is electrically energized.
- EPA's and the Department of Energy's Energy Star program provides
- What to do if a fluorescent light bulb breaks
- NEWMOA, the Northeast Waste Management Officials' Association, provides information on the different types of mercury light bulbs in use, as well as information on the different types of mercury light bulbs in use, as well as information on the amount of mercury used in them.
- LampRecycle.org,developed
by the Lamp Section of the National Electrical Manufacturers
Association, along with lamp recyclers,
provides lamp recycling contacts in all fifty states, links to
state Web sites on lamps, a list of recyclers, and other useful
information.
- The Association of Lighting and
Mercury Recyclerspromotes
mercury lamp recycling and provides practical information for
state and
local government agencies and users of fluorescent or high
intensity discharge (HID) lamps.
- The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency has developed information on How to Manage Used Fluorescent and High-Intensity-Discharge Lamps as Universal Wastes.
- EPA added hazardous waste lamps to the federal list of universal wastes regulated under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) in 1999. Handlers of universal wastes are subject to less stringent standards for storing, transporting, and collecting these wastes, than are handlers of other hazardous wastes. More information about universal wastes.
Necklaces and other Jewelry
There are some necklaces imported from Mexico that contain a glass
pendant that contains mercury. The mercury-containing pendants
can come in various shapes such as hearts, bottles, balls, saber
teeth, and chili peppers.
- Washington State Department of Health information about mercury used in inexpensive, imported necklaces. Broken necklaces have resulted in mercury spills at schools.
Paint
Mercury was used as a preservative. Its use in indoor and exterior
paint was discontinued in 1991.
- Many water-based paints (even interior paints) have, until recently, used mercury as a fungicide. EPA’s indoor air Web site presents information about addressing indoor environmental concerns during remodeling.
Switches are products or devices that open or close an electrical circuit, or a liquid or gas valve. Mercury-added switches include float switches, actuated by rising or falling liquid levels; tilt switches, actuated by a change in the switch position; pressure switches, actuated by a change in pressure; and temperature switches and flame sensors actuated by a change in temperature. Relays are products or devices that open or close electrical contacts to control the operation of other devices in the same or another electrical circuit. Relays are often used to turn on and off large current loads by supplying relatively small currents to a control circuit. Mercury-added relays include mercury displacement relays, mercury wetted reed relays, and mercury contact relays.
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NEWMOA, the Northeast Waste Management Officials' Association, provides information on the different types of switches and relays in use, as well as information on the amount of mercury used in them.
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Find more information about proper management of mercury switches in automobiles and learn about EPA's National Vehicle Mercury Switch Recovery Program.
Thermometers
Mercury is used in glass thermometers because mercury is sensitive to
changes in temperature. A mercury thermometer can be easily identified by
the presence of silver liquid.
- NEWMOA, the Northeast Waste Management Officials'
Association, provides information
on using mercury in thermometers.
- What to do when a mercury fever thermometer breaks/spills
- State and Local Mercury Collection, Recycling, and Exchange Programs
Thermostats, Heat Generators and Gas Flow Regulators
EPA's Region 7 office issued in May 2008 four fact sheets for the plumbing, heating and cooling contracting industry on health risks and liability issues related to mercury-containing thermostats, heat generators and gas regulators.
NEWMOA, the Northeast Waste Management Officials' Association, provides information on the use of mercury in thermostats.
Related Links
Mercury in Products - In recent years, there has been a growing focus on the need to decrease the use of mercury in household and commercial products and to prevent the mercury in existing products from entering the waste stream. This page has information about the numerous stewardship efforts that have been initiated by government, industry, and non-governmental organizations, targeting a variety of mercury-containing products.
State Legislation and Regulations - Many states have enacted legislation and written regulations with the goal of reducing mercury emissions to air, land, and water. Links to state legislation, regulations, and resolutions; and county/city ordinances are listed below, sorted by state.
Interstate
Mercury Education & Reduction Clearinghouse (IMERC) Mercury-Added
Products Database- This NEWMOA (Northeast Waste Management Officials' Association)
database presents information submitted to IMERC on the amount
and purpose of mercury in consumer products. The database is intended
to inform consumers, recyclers, policy makers and others about
products that contain intentionally-added mercury and the amount
of mercury, along with the manufacturers of these products.
Mercury
Reductions Programs Database- This database provides information about mercury reduction programs
across the nation. You can also add information about a program
that your organization has created to reduce mercury.
Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) - Federal agency that issues and enforces standards and recalls/repairs in order to protect people against unreasonable risks of injuries associated with consumer products.
The Pollution
Prevention Resource Exchange (P2Rx)-
Links to information and resources about mercury in health care,
dentistry, and thermometers (home, medical, and industrial use).
This page provides resources for establishments providing health
care including hospitals, dental offices, doctor's offices, and
clinics.
Substance Flow Analysis of Mercury Intentionally Used in Products in the United States (PDF) (15 pp., 422K) This article presents an effort to use substance flow analysis to develop improved estimates of the environmental releases caused by mercury-containing products and to provide policy makers with a better understanding of opportunities for reducing releases of mercury caused by products. Written in part by EPA staff, the article was published in the Journal of Industrial Ecology, Vol. 11, Issue 3, on pages 61-75.
The Product Stewardship Institute is working on a mercury thermostat project and a fluorescent lighting project . In the thermostat project, PSI is working with stakeholders to educate heating and cooling contractors and homeowners about the need to responsibly manage mercury thermostats, expand the availability of current recycling locations, provide incentives that motivate contractors and homeowners to recycle, and increase the replacement rate of mercury thermostats with non-mercury alternatives. In the lighting project, PSI is convening a national dialogue for the negotiation of strategies to address key issues, and conducting a pilot project to collect fluorescent lamps and thermostats from retail locations.