Straight, U-tube and Circular A History of Mercury Mercury Disposal Mercury occurs naturally in the environment. It was The Barnstable County Hazardous Materials regularly mined after the discovery of its presence Program has coordinated mercury collection The Dangers of in cinnabar ore. Called “quicksilver,” mercury was programs on Cape Cod since 2001. used to increase the effi ciency of gold mining by Every town on Cape Cod participates in this attaching to the gold dust being fl ushed out of program by recycling mercury-containing devices Mercury mines. This gold-mercury mixture separated the at transfer stations and recycling centers. Residents Most straight, circular and U- elements from gravel and sediments. Due to their and businesses may also bring mercury devices in Your World. tubes contain less than 10 mg constant exposure to the toxin, the miners’ life mercury per bulb. (except for bulbs) to Household Hazardous expectancy was three years. Products Collections held in Cape Cod towns. Mercury was used in another form–mercurous Participating businesses store mercury-containing Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFL) nitrate–in hatmaking. In order to create felt used items which are then collected by county staff and for hats, the chemical was brushed onto rabbit AmeriCorps Cape Cod members. Marinas, marine fur to make it more easily mat. The felt was repair shops, electric and plumbing suppliers, later dipped in an acid solution to harden it, and heating and air- chemical reactions in the process turned the conditioning mercurous nitrate into elemental mercury. In 1941, contractors, the U.S. Public Health Service banned the use of among others, mercury in hatmaking because the “Mad Hatters” participate. Compact spirals contain up to 5 mg mercury per bulb; suffered tremors, memory loss and personality other compacts contain up to 10 mg mercury per bulb. Disposal of changes as well as other symptoms due to their collected materials long-term exposure. is paid for through High Intensity Discharge (HID) a Materials Lamps Separation Plan HID is the term used for several mandated by the state. It is funded by Maximum types of lamps including metal Achievable Control Technology (MACT) fees of halide, mercury vapor and high fi fteen dollars paid by towns for each ton of trash pressure sodium. Most lamps brought to SEMASS. Fifty cents per ton is used to More than forty-fi ve states have fi sh contain 10 mg to 1,000 mg fund the mercury reduction program. The mercury consumption advisories due to high mercury. is reclaimed by businesses that purify the mercury and sell it to commercial and manufacturing levels of mercury contamination. Mercury Vapor Lamps Mercury is used in devices today because of its businesses where mercury continues to serve a purpose. excellent conductivity and high surface tension The sale of mercury thermometers Most mercury vapor lamps which allows it to roll freely. In a switch, for is banned in Boston and other cities contain between 10 and 100 mg example, it makes or breaks electrical circuits of mercury. Cape Cod Cooperative Extension across the U.S. signaling the furnace to heat or cool the air. Most PO Box 367, Barnstable, MA 02630 people are not exposed to mercury because it is www.capecodextension.org, 508-375-6690 contained in a protective bulb. The harm is done when it breaks–often due to accidents when Mercury is an element that cannot be Mercury Lamp Disposal Barnstable County Recycle fl uorescent lamps and mercury devices handling or after disposal. HAZARDOUS MATERIALS PROGRAM broken down. Once inside the human Collaborating with the University of Massachusetts Extension at your town’s recycling center year-round. 800-319-2783 508-375-6699 SEMASS body it accumulates. Why is Mercury a Is There Mercury in Your How Much Mercury? Why is There Mercury Problem? Home? in Lighting ? Barometers 500g Mercury is a silver metal that is liquid at room Thermostats A fl uorescent lamp is an electrical discharge temperature and is toxic to the human nervous A good alternative to a Thermostats 4.5g lamp that operates at a very low gas pressure. system. If touched, inhaled or swallowed it affects mercury thermostat is a It produces light when electric current passes digital programmable version. between two electrodes (also called cathodes) human speech, motor skills and rational thought. Small Switches 4g It can cause damage to the central nervous in a tube fi lled with low-pressure mercury vapor system, cardiovascular collapse, kidney failure and and inert gases such as argon and krypton. The birth defects such as mental retardation. Thermometers Large Switches up to 40g electric current excites the mercury vapor in If there is a silver substance the tube, generating radiant energy, primarily in inside your thermometer, it’s CFLs 4 to 10mg the ultraviolet (UV) range. The energy causes a mercury. Red, blue or other phosphor coating on the inside of the tube to fl uoresce, converting the UV light into visible colored liquids are alcohol- HID Lamps based. Trade in your mercury up to 1000mg light. Mercury is present in the lamp in both the thermometer for a digital phosphor powder and in the vapor. thermometer. Fluorescent Lamps 3.3mg Fluorescent lamps require a ballast, which is a (per linear foot) device used to provide, and control, the voltage Light Bulbs in the lamp, as well as stabilize the current in the Consider switching to compact Fever Thermometers 1g circuit. fl uorescent lamps (CFLs). They Fluorescent and other mercury-added lamps are contain mercury as do circular Button Cell Batteries 9mg more effi cient than incandescent light bulbs of From Pollution to Health Hazard and tube fl uorescent lamps, but an equivalent brightness because more of the One way in which mercury is released into the they last longer and consume 3-4 Blood Pressure 110g energy input is converted to usable light and less environment is through use in household devices times less energy. Monitors is converted to heat. They also have a longer lamp that are eventually broken, incinerated or life. While the lamps are being used, the mercury within them poses no health risk. disposed of in landfi lls. The other is through the Switches burning of coal, oil and natural gas in factories When lamps are broken, burned in waste-to- Float switches, electrical and power plants. The mercury becomes a gas, Mercury can also be found in: energy plants or buried in landfi lls, the mercury switches, tilt switches and rises into the atmosphere and attaches to water is released. Since the mercury is a necessary other appliance switches molecules, falling into our soil and water when it ingredient in these lamps, the lamps should be contain mercury. Replace old toys • electric organs rains or snows. used, and recycled or managed as hazardous waste broken ones with switches that pesticides • skin creams when they are no longer used. In the water bacteria breaks it into methyl- don’t contain mercury. mercury–a more toxic form–and it is absorbed anti-lock brake systems by plankton. When fi sh eat the plankton, the automotive security systems Typical types of fluorescent Batteries toxin bioaccumulates in their tissue. fl ame sensors in appliances lamps: Hearing aid, camera and “Bioaccumulation” is the buildup of a substance laptop computer covers straight bug zapper in the tissues of a living organism. When a human watch batteries, and U-tubes black light alkalines made before or animal eats the fi sh, the toxin passes to their some household cleaners circular high output 1996 contain mercury. tissue where it continues to accumulate. tanning germicidal