What Products Do I Use What Are The Human Health What Can I Do To Proper Disposal Of That Contain Mercury? Hazards Caused By Mercury? How Does Mercury Get Into Fish? Prevent Mercury Pollution? Mercury Waste Mercury has many useful properties. Because it is a Although mercury can be taken in through the lungs, Mercury is being phased out of many retail products Bring the following items from your home to a household liquid at room temperature, combines easily with mouth or skin, the most likely exposure is by eating Once in a lake or river, mercury is converted to sold in Vermont. As a consumer, educate yourself; do hazardous waste collection facility or event so they can other metals, and expands and contracts evenly with mercury contaminated fish. It is the most toxic form, methylmercury by bacteria and other processes. not purchase mercury-containing items if a substitute is be recycled or managed properly: Fish absorb methylmercury from their food and temperature changes, mercury has been used in methylmercury, that collects in the flesh of fish. available. Look for a label to determine if mercury is in from water as it passes over their gills. Mercury is ✓ Older button cell, alkaline (pre 1996) and camera many household, medical, and industrial products. 4 the product. If an item containing mercury is purchased, tightly bound to proteins in all fish tissue, including dispose of it properly when it becomes a waste. Below batteries A few examples are: Mercury affects the human brain, spinal cord, kidneys muscle. There is no method of cooking or cleaning are some ways that you can reduce mercury pollution. and liver. It affects the ability to feel, see, taste and ✓ Old oil-based paints (mildew resistant) ✓ Fluorescent and mercury vapor lamps fish that will reduce the amount of mercury in a move. There can be tingling sensations in the fingers meal. ✓ Old fungicides for seeds and turf ✓ Thermostats and toes, a numb sensation around the mouth, and Landfill Bans tunnel vision. Long-term exposure to mercury can Methylmercury accumulates as you move up the ✓ Thermostats and switches ✓ Thermometers result in symptoms that get progressively worse and food chain: 3 & Labeled Products ✓ ✓ lead to personality changes, stupor and coma. Fluorescent and HID lamps Automotive headlamps - blue tint 1. Methylmercury in the water and sediment is Look for labels on products and their packages indicating taken up by tiny animals and plants known as mercury content. Vermont law requires manufacturers to ✓ Thermometers - fever and larger types ✓ Gas appliances with pilot lights Women who are pregnant should not eat fish with label mercury-added products. Mercury-added products plankton. high levels of mercury. Mercury affects fetal should not be discarded with regular trash or solid waste. ✓ Liquid mercury (quicksilver) ✓ Switches - silent light switches, tilt switches development, preventing the brain and nervous It is against the law to dispose of labeled, mercury-added 2. Small fishes eat large quantities of plankton (automotive trunk and hood lights, chest system from developing normally. Affected children 2 products in the trash. ✓ Gas appliances freezer lights, space heaters, sump and bilge show lowered intelligence, impaired hearing and over time. pumps and clothes irons) poor coordination. Their verbal and motor skills may 3. Large predatory fish consume many smaller fish, ✓ Barometers, manometers, blood pressure and be delayed. Household Products Low Mercury or accumulating methylmercury in their tissues. That May Contain Mercury Mercury-Free Alternatives vacuum gauges The older and larger the fish, the greater the potential for high mercury levels in their bodies. Thermometers Silver bulb Red bulb (alcohol); Digital 1 How Does Mercury Thermostats All non-electronic models Electronic models 4. Fish are caught and eaten by humans and = represents methylmercury Affect Wildlife? animals, causing methylmercury to accumulate Gas Appliances Models with pilot lights Electronic ignition models in their tissues. Eagles, osprey, loons, turtles, mink, otters, and other Fluorescent Lights Standard fluorescents Compact and low-mercury fluorescents fish-eating creatures are at risk from eating mercury- The State of Vermont Fish Contaminant Monitoring VT DEPARTMENT Fillings for your teeth Dental amalgam Ask your dentist about mercury-free alternatives. contaminated fish. Mercury in their diets can cause Program has been monitoring the levels of mercury Mercury Switches Silent switches, clothes irons, chest Find products without mercury switches early death, weight loss, and problems with their in fish tissue since 1987. Measureable OF HEALTH freezers, and automotive lights ability to reproduce. Unfortunately, wildlife cannot concentrations have been observed in 95% of the read fish advisories or change their eating habits in samples collected from lakes and rivers across the FISH CONSUMPTION order to avoid mercury contamination. state. The Vermont Department of Health has Contact Your Solid Waste District for More Information About issued a fish consumption advisory which ADVISORY the Proper Disposal of Mercury-Containing Products in Your Area... recommends consumption levels based on fish www.healthyvermonters.info ADDISON COUNTY BENNINGTON REGIONAL CENTRAL VERMONT CHITTENDEN species and special advisories for certain water SOLID WASTE DISTRICT PLANNING COMMISSION SOLID WASTE DISTRICT SOLID WASTE DISTRICT bodies. The advisory is also more protective of or call (802) 388-2333 (802) 375-9964 (802) 229-9383 (802) 872-8111 women of childbearing age and children under age 6. 800-439-8550 GREATER UPPER VALLEY LAMOILLE REGIONAL LONDONDERRY GROUP MAD RIVER SOLID WASTE DISTRICT SOLID WASTE DISTRICT (802) 824-6304 SOLID WASTE ALLIANCE (802) 296-3688 (802) 888-7317 (802) 244-7373 Remember... NE KINGDOM WASTE NORTHWEST VERMONT RUTLAND COUNTY RUTLAND NON-DISTRICT MANAGEMENT DISTRICT SOLID WASTE DISTRICT SOLID WASTE DISTRICT TOWNS, JMSC/SWAC ✓ Limit consumption of certain types of fish. 1-800-734-4602 OR (802) 524-5986 (802) 775-7209 OR (518) 854-9702 ✓ Stay informed, know where mercury is found. (802) 626-3532 802-773-4083 Not sure of your town’s ✓ Avoid buying products containing mercury. SOUTHERN WINDSOR/ WHITE RIVER ALLIANCE WINDHAM SOLID ✓ WINDHAM COUNTY SWMD (802) 234-9340 WASTE DISTRICT membership in a district, Dispose of mercury-containing products properly. (603) 543-1201 (802) 257-0272 call us at 1-800-974-9559. The Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation thanks the Western Lake Superior Sanitary District of Duluth, Minnesota for the use and adaptation of its mercury education brochure. www.mercvt.org Have Questions? Have or 802-241-3455 or What is Mercury? 1-800-974-9559 Mercury, also known as quicksilver, is an element that does not break down. It occurs naturally and is found in very small amounts in bodies of water, rocks, and soil. It becomes airborne when rocks break down, volcanoes erupt, and soil decomposes. It then circulates and is In his 1865 book, Alice’s Adventures in redistributed throughout the environment. Wonderland, Lewis Carroll introduced a character he called the Mad Hatter. Although Carroll’s Mad Large amounts of mercury also become airborne when coal, oil, wood or Hatter was fictional, the strange and natural gas are burned as fuel or when mercury-containing products are unpredictable behavior he displayed was not thrown in the trash or incinerated. Once in the air, mercury can fall to the uncommon among people employed in the felt ground with rain and snow, landing on soil or in bodies of water, causing M O Waterbury, VT 05671-0411 VT Waterbury, R N E T V hat industry in the 1800s. Mercury nitrate was 103 South Main Street Main South 103 contamination. MERC M N E G R used in the felting process and constant exposure I C Environmental Assistance Division Assistance Environmental A U P R M Y A E Department of Environmental Conservation Environmental of Department C D to the chemical eventually caused the hatters to When lakes and rivers are contaminated, mercury accumulates in the tissue U N C O I A T T C I O Mercury Education & Reduction Campaign Reduction & Education Mercury U N D E & of fish and other organisms and may ultimately reach the dinner table. R develop mercury poisoning. The connection between mercury poisoning and the hatter’s Although mercury is a very useful element with many unique properties behavior was not understood at the time, but the and applications, it poses a very real health risk. We can minimize this risk term “mad as a hatter” was in common usage. by reducing our use of mercury-containing products and properly Mercury is no longer used in the felting process disposing of mercury-containing waste. Mercury and is being phased out of many other industrial in the environment... uses as well. However, a significant amount of mercury contamination comes from items discarded as solid waste. This brochure has been developed to help you identify household items that contain mercury to ensure that they are disposed of properly. Responsible A handling of mercury-containing wastes will help keep mercury out of the environment. Get mad about mercury contamination! By reducing your use of Little mercury-containing items, recycling what you can, and disposing of ALL mercury waste properly, you can help keep mercury out of the water and the Bit Is atmosphere, and keep the Mad Hatter in the story books. A The Mercury Education & Reduction Campaign was N & REDU TIO C RMON A TI VE T C O D N E U Lot! N P developed by the Vermont Department of Environmental O D C I A E T A R A Y M T V R M P R E U Conservation. The goal of the M.E.R.C. program is to A E N C S I G T R N E DEC N O O F C M E L N A increase awareness of mercury pollution and MERC V T = represents methylmercury IRONMEN V E T to reduce mercury pollution at its source.