Why is it important to keep mercury out of the trash? Mercury is a toxic metal. When products containing mercury are discarded at he end of their useful lives, the mercury is released in the air when proucts break. Airborne mercury is deposited on land and in lakes and ponds, where it can be eaten by fish and, in turn, by people and wildlife. Mercury that is discharged in wastewater ends up in sewage sludge, which is either burned in an incinerator or applied to land as a soil amendment. In both cases, rain can wash mercury into lakes, ponds, and streams. If mercury-added products can't go in the trash, what should people do with them? In order to keep the mercury contained in the product from being released into the environment, the mercury-added product or component must be taken to a mercury collection site for recycling or be managed as a hazardous waste. Marshfield has a hazardous waste day scheduled for September 20, 2008. The following are hazardous products: thermometers with silver liquid, thermostats with silver liquid in glass cylinders (not digital), button batteries (watches, calculators, small flashing toys) sphgmomanometer
(blood pressure cuff) tilt switches mercury thermocouples removed from appliances neon lamps some fluorescent lamps (four-foot straight tubes, u-tubes and circular tubes Massachusetts public health officials have issued advisories warning people to limit their consumption of certain types of fish caught in our lakes, streams and ponds, with particular cautions for pregnant women, nursing mothers, women of child-bearing years and young children. |
