Mercury is a naturally occurring element that is toxic to people and wildlife. When products containing mercury are broken or thrown in the trash, outdoors, or down the drain, mercury cycles through the environment, polluting air and water, and accumulating in fish. You and your family can be exposed to mercury by breathing its fumes, eating contaminated fish, or touching spilled mercury. This page provides a one-stop resource for learning about mercury, understanding its environmental and public health impacts, safely managing products and wastes that contain it, and finding out what state government is doing to reduce and ultimately eliminate the mercury threat.
Understanding Mercury & Handling it Safely
Learn about the environmental and health effects of mercury and how to safely manage products and wastes that contain it at home, school and work.
Find Mercury Product Recycling Drop-Off Locations
Use an interactive map to search for locations near you that accept fluorescent light bulbs and other items containing mercury.
Mercury Management Act, Regulations & Other Initiatives
Information about Chapter 190 of the Acts of 2006, MassDEP regulations implementing the law, and other Massachusetts and regional efforts to limit the sale and disposal of mercury-containing products, promote their safe handling, and limit environmental exposures to mercury.
Environmental Monitoring & Fish Consumption Advisories
MassDEP emission inventories, fish tissue studies and long-term environmental monitoring reports, as well as Department of Public Health (DPH) advisories on eating fish taken from bodies of water across Massachusetts.
Access to Fish Mercury Data
MassDEP monitors contaminant levels in the edible tissues of freshwater fish with two programs: the research program, and the public request sampling program. The data available through this portal come from the research program, which intensively monitors fish mercury levels in 39 lakes to track changes in fish mercury with time.
