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Pioneering Mercury Recycling Program Moves Forward

February/March Issue, 2005

Maine’s first-in-the-nation program to recover mercury from cars before they are scrapped is on its way to becoming a model for pending legislation in other states, according to a recent independent survey. Ecology Center efforts, as part of the Clean Car Campaign and Partnership for Mercury-Free Vehicles, helped pass the landmark 2002 law that forces automakers to pay for the statewide mercury switch recovery program.

Mercury auto switches were used in trunk and hood lights and anti-lock braking systems in most cars made before January 1, 2003, before being replaced by mechanical switches.Each switch contains about one gram of mercury, enough to taint an 18-acre lake for a year, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Maine has some of the highest mercury pollution levels in the nation and residents are advised to strictly limit their consumption of fish from the state’s inland waters.

Maine’s Mercury Auto Switch Law mandates that salvage yards remove mercury switches from cars before they are scrapped, shredded, or smelted, all processes that release the toxin into the environment. Automakers are required to pay a $1 bounty for each switch recovered, to provide shipping, and to set up consolidation centers for their collection.

The Natural Resources Council of Maine in Oct. 2004 found that 80% of salvage yards surveyed were currently collecting mercury switches for the program. And even though only 2,417 pellets had been turned in to consolidation centers, facilities reported having 14,479 mercury-containing switches on hand.

The NRCM also found that 70% of survey respondents felt that the $1 bounty should be increased and 52% said that recording the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) is overly burdensome. Consequently, Maine’s Department of Environmental Protection is seeking to amend the law to increase the bounty that car companies pay for each switch to $3, or $4 if the VIN is required.

Mandated mercury recycling efforts in Maine are part of a larger campaign to hold auto manufacturers responsible for putting toxic components in their cars in the first place.“By making automakers responsible for their product when its useful life isover we force them to have a stake in recovering toxic components, which in turn provides a strong incentive for them to improve the design of future products,” says Ecology Center Auto Campaign DirectorJeff Gearhart.

Mercury is a dangerous neurotoxin that at even low levels can impair infant and child development and may harm cardiovascular and immune systems of adults. Mercury pollution threatens wildlife and builds up in game fish that people consume. For more information about Maine’s groundbreaking program and efforts to enact similar legislation elsewhere, visit www.cleancarcampaign.org.

S I D E B A R:

NJ Signs Up!

After the governor signs the bill, New Jersey will become the second state in the nation to mandate recycling of mercury auto components. The legislation, passed by the state Senate at press time (mid-February) and the Assembly last October, is modeled on Maine’s landmark 2002 law. One difference is that NJ will make automakers pay a $2 bounty for toxic mercury switches. New Jersey is considered a significant victory because the state’s seven steel mills consume 25 to 100 scrapped cars an hour and spew an estimated 1,000 tons of toxic mercury per year.

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