Politics & Government

Have A Mercury Thermostat? Trash It Properly, Town Says

The Southold town board is ready to educate the public about how to dispose of mercury themostats.

Southold Town is planning an educational campaign to teach residents how to properly dispose of their old thermostats, which contain mercury.

Jim Bunchuck, Southold's solid waste coordinator, updated the town board on Tuesday about the dangers of mercury exposure, which can lead to adverse health effects.

"People are throwing mercury thermostats in garbage," Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell said.

Tuesday night, the board passed a memorializing resolution urging state representativs to enact legislation that would place responsibility for collecting and disposing of the mercury-based products on the companies that produced them.

Similar legislation was enacted last year regarding e-waste, Russell said, in which the manufacturers paid for the disposal of, or recycling of e-waste.

Meanwhile, Bunchuck said an educational campaign could be launched on the town's website to school residents on the proper way to dispose of the thermostats.

Mercury should be taken to a recycling center or other designated spot where such items are collected. Residents should not pour the mercury down the drain as the substance can enter the groundwater.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency has designated sites for mercury disposal.

"Mercury-based products are costly to dispose of and the cost should be borne by the companies that manufacture them," Russell said. 

The e-waste disposal area of the Southold Town transfer station is funded by retailers, Russell said.

Bunchuck said residents should not spill the mercury in their homes, vacuum it, or throw it into the household trash. "The dangers of mercury are pretty obvious," he said. "Whether or not people make the connection to thermostats, I don't know. But there is a high concentration of mercury in those old thermostats."

In fact, according to the resolution, each such thermostat contains four grams of mercury, about 800 times more mercury than a compact fluorescent bulb.

The town did a brochure for residents on how to dispose of compact fluorescents, Bunchuck said. 

Nationally, over the last 15 years, the use of mercury in United States thermostat manufacturing has been reduced from 13 to 21 tons annually to less than one ton per year, the resolution states; the drop is attributed to state legislation banning the sale of new mercury thermostats and the cessation of production of the mercury thermostats by Honeywell, White Rodgers, and General Electric.

However, the resolution adds that millions of mercury thermostats containing several hundred tons of mercury are still used in homes and businesses across the country.

The town will advise residents on the its website that mercury is considered hazardous waste.


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