Mercury waning: Online oversight reduces sales of devices containing toxic metal

By Andrew Wineke, communications manager, Hazardous Waste and Toxics Reduction Program

For centuries, mercury was used in thermometers, barometers and other measuring devices because it expands and contracts evenly with temperature and pressure changes. Unfortunately, mercury is also a potent neurotoxin that can cause damage or death even at low doses.


In 2003, Washington banned the sale of measurement devices and novelty items containing mercury. Seventeen other states and the European Union have adopted similar restrictions. And 128 countries, including the United States, signed a 2013 convention pledging to phase out use of the toxic metal.

To ensure that retailers and manufacturers complied with these restrictions, Ecology recently searched online stores for items containing mercury. These included both major retailers and specialty sellers.

Despite its toxicity, mercury is not banned everywhere. So, in order to verify whether these retailers had systems in place to prevent the sale of mercury-containing items to buyers in Washington, our product enforcement staff bought a selection of these products. Companies that sold and shipped the items to Washington were informed about our state’s laws and requirements for compliance.

The good news is that the retailers were extremely responsive. Some simply stopped selling mercury-containing items altogether. Others put measures in place to ensure they didn’t sell these items in Washington or other jurisdictions with restrictions in place.

In all, Ecology’s efforts resulted in more than 1,100 different mercury thermometers, barometers, manometers, sphygmomanometers, and other measuring devices being removed from sale.

Washington has a number of laws restricting the sale of products containing toxic chemicals like flame retardants, lead, bisphenol A, and phthalates. Ecology regularly tests consumer products to see whether manufacturers are complying with both state and federal restrictions on toxics and other reporting requirements.

You can browse our product-testing data at https://fortress.wa.gov/ecy/ptdbpublicreporting/.

A penny for your thoughts, but $9 for your ABS switch

By Andrew Wineke, communications manager, Hazardous Waste and Toxics Reduction Program

There’s more than one way to skin a cat, as the saying goes. A less well known (but cat-friendlier) saying is that there is more than one way to get mercury out of the environment. Mercury, the silvery, liquid metal, is a problem child. It’s highly toxic, it lasts essentially forever, and it builds up in the environment, causing health effects and environmental damage.

You don’t see mercury thermometers and thermostats around as much as you once did, but small amounts of the toxic metal can still be found in a range of applications. Because mercury is so dangerous, it’s important to find every bit of it we can and collect it before it can cause damage.

Mercury pellets from automotive switches.

One program that has been extremely effective in Washington is working with auto recyclers to collect mercury-containing automotive switches.

In older cars, many of the light, airbag and anti-lock brake switches contain a tiny pellet of mercury, so it makes sense to work with auto recyclers to collect those before the cars are cut up and turned into scrap.

Washington’s program pays recyclers $3 for light switches and $9 for ABS switches (which contain more mercury).

Does it work? Just look at the numbers:

• Since 2006, Ecology’s program has collected 234,500 switches
• Removing those switches has kept more than 500 pounds of mercury out of the environment
• In 2014, the program collected 1,518 ABS switches and 21,152 light switches, removing 50 pounds of mercury in the process.

Many other states offer similar programs, but Washington is a national leader in mercury removal. Our automotive switch program ranked fifth in the nation in mercury collected, despite Washington having a much smaller population and fewer vehicles than some of the other states.

What you can do
 It hopefully goes without saying, but you should not pull the ABS switch out of your car just because it may contain mercury. As long as the mercury is contained in the switch, it’s very safe. Ecology’s collection program is aimed at preventing long-term environmental damage.

However, there are some items most of us have around our homes that also contain mercury: fluorescent light bulbs and electronics.

As long as your fluorescent light bulbs are working, they’re safe and you can leave them be. When they do burn out, though, make sure you take the bulbs to a recycling center.

In January, Washington launched the LightRecycle program, which accepts fluorescent bulbs at convenient locations around the state. So do your part to keep mercury out of the environment and recycle your fluorescents!

For electronics, Washington’s E-Cycle program accepts TVs, computers and other electronic items and ensures they are properly recycled. It’s free and it’s easy, with more than 400 drop-off locations around the state. Since 2009, the E-Cycle program has collected more than 250 million pounds of electronics.