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Mercury
Challenges
Facing Governments
There
are a number of concerns that government and their
constituents may have about mercury that might include:
The
Public
To
protect the public from mercury contamination, there are several
steps that should be taken by government:
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a means to recycle hazardous waste products must be provided,
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unnecessary mercury products must be eliminated from the community
and government,
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the
public must be educated in mercury awareness
Populations
Most at Risk
The
populations at greatest risk of experiencing the consequences of methylmercury
exposure are pregnant women, women of childbearing age, infants and
young children. When
mercury makes its way into the water supply of a community, all
exposed to the contaminated water can be affected. The primary
route for mercury exposure in humans is through consumption of fish.
When mercury is dumped into water from any source, it most often
converts to the most toxic form of mercury for humans, methylmercury.
Visit the fish facts Web site for more information on mercury in
Fish.
Home Owners, Apartment and Condominium
Dwellers
Most
counties have well developed recycling systems with hazardous waste
collection facilities available for home owners, apartment, and
condominium dwellers. Some counties, such as King, have a
waste mobile system that moves around to educate the
public and collect hazardous waste.
Changing behavior among
apartment and condominium dwellers is often a challenge. Innovation
in this arena is highly encouraged.
Occupational Exposure
Occupational exposure can occur both in government buildings, health
organizations, facilities maintenance, hazardous waste
collection, an in local businesses. Local governments
should be aware of the business operations in their communities
whose employees may be at risk of exposure, such as laboratories,
auto recycling and plant maintenance companies. Businesses should
also be made aware of occupations and settings that can place
employees at risk. Several of the local hazardous waste collection
facilities run small business consultation services which give
advice on ways to promote a healthier worksite and safe disposal
practices. For further information, visit our
Mercury in Business Web site.
The
Thermostat Recycling Corporation (TRC)
invites HVAC businesses to participate in thermostat recycling
nationwide through their recycling program. HVAC businesses which
sell and change out mercury thermostats in their communities can
make a one-time purchase of a TRC bin which, when filled with use
mercury thermostats, is sent back to TRC, postage paid, to have the
thermostats recycled. An empty bin is returned to the HVAC business
for perpetual filling.
Government
Employees
Government has both internal and external responsibilities regarding
reduction of hazardous waste and mercury reduction. Internally,
environmental health, hazardous waste, purchasing, public health and
sustainability managers can influence buying, recycling, handling,
disposal and overall stewardship behavior within government. To
help provide relevant information, DOH has developed a
local
government PowerPoint slide show (PDF 443KB), which can be
used internally or externally as is useful to explain the dangers
and laws relating to mercury-containing products.
Facilities and maintenance staff of government at all levels are
often responsible for removal, replacement, storage, and disposal of
fluorescent bulbs and high intensity bulbs. It is advisable for all
government agencies to have storage, collection, replacement,
disposal and recycling systems in place for all types of fluorescent
and high intensity lights.
Fleet
maintenance staff will deal with the vehicles that may contain a
mercury switch in the trunk or in the seat belt restraint system.
The mercury convenience switches in the trunks should be removed
prior to resale or distribution to auto recyclers. The Thurston
County Health Department has launched a system for removal of all
trunk switches, which occurs at the time of regular maintenance of
the vehicle. It is estimated that this task requires less than 4
minutes when done with other maintenance tasks. Thurston County
Health Department has provided » switch buckets» for storage of
switches, which they collect, and then return to the manufacturer
for recycling.
An
Executive Order from Governor Locke requires
government to become models of environmental stewardship by reducing
its use of mercury-added products. Additionally, all government
departments were required to begin purchasing products containing
little or no mercury on January 1, 2005
A
growing trend is for governments to have a sustainability plan which
includes a plan for the proper disposal of mercury-added products
and elemental mercury. The
Washington State
Office of General Administration (GA) has a Sustainability Office that can be consulted for a wide variety of sustainability issues.
Washington State GA's Sustainability Plan (operations and
facilities).
The City of
Seattle Sustainability Office is a model for other communities. They have developed
systems and plans for working with various government departments
about all aspects of sustainability, including mercury reduction.
School Personnel
Local
government often work with schools to help reduce their hazardous
risk, provide proper disposal of mercury products, ensure removal of
elemental mercury from labs, provide advice on
environmentally-conscious purchasing, fleet maintenance, and
building construction projects. All K-12 schools in Washington are
required to eliminate all elemental mercury by January 1, 2006 to be
in compliance with
MERA.
(Mercury Reduction Act)
Local
Health Jurisdictions and local hazardous waste collection facilities
may need to work with schools and ESDs on mercury-containing
products such as fluorescent and high-intensity bulbs. For further
information on mercury incidents in schools, visit our
Mercury in School Web site.
Healthcare Employees
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Hospitals: Exposures to mercury in hospitals can be caused by
many things. Hospitals and health facilities may have
mercury-containing items, such as thermometers, sphygmomanometers
(blood pressure cuffs), and other pressure-reading items. When
these items break or are improperly disposed of, mercury exposure
can occur. Non-mercury alternatives to these and other items are
becoming more available on the market and many hospitals and
healthcare facilities are switching to these safer items. As with
other large organizations, health organizations often use
fluorescent and high intensity lights that require proper handling
and disposal. City and county health department personnel can
refer hospitals, dentists, and health organizations to
Hospitals for a Healthy Environment
which has a series of resources and materials. The
American Hospital Association has signed a memorandum of
understanding with the IEPA to phase out
mercury-contaminated waste in hospitals by 2005.
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Dental Offices: The Washington Department of Ecology has a
dental memorandum of understanding with the Washington
State Dental Association on the use of mercury separators in the
dental office, and the proper disposal of amalgam waste in amalgam
containers. Ninety five percent of King County dental offices are
using separators, and dentists throughout the rest of the state
are moving forward. To explore some best management practices
visit Ecology's
Web site.
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Labs: Medical and scientific laboratories also can present
risk, as they often have elemental mercury or mercury compounds
and large mercury thermometers. The NIH has a
mercury
free mad hatter campaign with
useful information.
Contaminated Sites
Prior
to the implementation of environmental impact studies, waste
products from manufacturing processes often ended up in air, soils,
ground- and surface-waters.
Most
businesses do not reach » superfund» status, which is a federally
identified large toxic contamination site that is then designated
for a federal clean up. Some small businesses, however, might have
to deal with toxic chemicals that need to be discarded. Local
governments can help educate these businesses, perform site
inspections for the safety of the company employees, or provide a
business consultation to these businesses.
Today,
some of the most contaminated sites associated with particular
toxins are known as superfund sites, and the federal government has
stepped in to regulate their cleanup. The businesses which caused
the pollution are often responsible for the costs of cleaning up the
environmental damage that resulted in their poor practices.
Resources/Links for Businesses &
Health Organizations.
Additional Mercury Related
Information
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