Mercury Waste

Mercury is a naturally occurring element. This silver-colored liquid metal can be found in rocks, soil and the ocean. Mercury can be released into the environment through natural processes when volcanoes erupt, rocks erode and soil decomposes.

As a liquid metal at room temperature, mercury has been widely used throughout industry. Man-made sources of mercury include abandoned mines, energy production, sewage, industrial processes, mining, smelting, scrap metal processing and incineration or land disposal of mercury products or waste.

The California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA) regulates the disposal of waste mercury because mercury is toxic to people and to the environment.

• Mercury is Toxic to People: Mercury is a powerful neurotoxin that affects every aspect of brain and nerve function. It can cause tremors, memory loss, mental impairment and many other complications in the nervous system. Mercury is especially dangerous to the developing fetus as it impairs brain development, resulting in lowered intelligence and other brain deficits.
• Mercury is Toxic to the Environment: Bacteria from river and estuary bottom sediments convert mercury into its highly toxic form through a process called “methylation.” This methylated mercury accumulates in aquatic organisms, making the fish from those bodies of water dangerous to eat.

Numerous bodies of water in California are the subject of fish consumption advisories. These range from limiting the intake of some fish to one serving every few weeks, to avoiding the consumption of any fish from specific locations.

For more information on California’s fish consumption advisories, go to the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment Web site.

For more information about the health effects of mercury, go to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry mercury page.

• Final Mercury Report

Due to the unique properties of mercury, this liquid metal has been widely used in many common consumer products.

Once these products are no longer used and become waste, many of these items can be managed with reduced hazardous waste handling requirements under the “Universal Waste Rule.” For more information, go to our Universal Waste Web page.

For mercury-containing products found in the home, local governments in California operate an extensive system of household hazardous waste collection programs. Many of these programs also accept hazardous waste from small businesses.

The California Mercury Reduction Act (SB 633, chapter 656, stats. of 2001) prohibits the sale in California of vehicles manufactured on or after January 1, 2005 that contain mercury light switches.

SB 633 also requires DTSC to take steps to encourage the removal of mercury light switches from end-of-life vehicles and to assess compliance with the requirement for the removal of all mercury switches from all end-of-life major appliances.

The information below was developed as part of DTSC’s effort to encourage and assist with the removal of mercury light switches from vehicles and mercury switches from major appliances, as required by SB 633. These documents provide background on the regulatory requirements that govern management of mercury switches, as well as practical information on how to remove them from vehicles and appliances.

DTSC is pursuing a number of initiatives to encourage the replacement, reuse and recycling of mercury in products so that this highly toxic chemical does not find its way into the environment.

• Fact Sheet: Mercury-Added Switches and Relays in Consumer Products
• Matrix on Mercury Product Exemption Summary
• Letter to National Electrical Manufacturer’s Association on Exemptions from the Ban on Sale and Distribution of Mercury Switches and Relays in California

• Managing Waste Mercury Lamps Online Training
• Fact Sheet: It is Illegal to Discard Fluorescent Light Tubes/Lamps in the Trash! 
• Best Management Practices: Managing Spent Fluorescent Lamps
• “Keep Out of Trash” Sticker and Poster
• Go to our Mercury Lamp Disposal Web site

California hospitals are accepting our challenge to eliminate mercury-containing products in their facilities.  Find out more about our Mercury Elimination Leadership Program (HELP).

• A Guide to Mercury Assessment and Elimination in Health Care Facilities

The new law Assembly Bill (AB) 455 requires that using certain heavy metals in packages and packaging components be regulated in California beginning January 1, 2006. This fact sheet provides information about the new law to members of industry, regulators, public interest groups and the general public.

• Fact Sheet: Preventing Toxic Substances in Packaging for Consumer Goods

Some representatives from the vehicle manufacturers, steelmakers, vehicle dismantlers, vehicle shredders, environmental community, states and the U.S. EPA have reached a tentative agreement on National Auto Mercury Switch Recovery Program.

• National Mercury Switch Recovery Program Statement of Principal Agreement
• Memorandum of Understanding - Mercury Switches 

• For information about the household hazardous waste program in your community:
  • Call your local environmental health or public works department
  • Call 1-800-CLEANUP (1-800-253-2687)
  • Call DTSC's Regulatory Assistance Officers at 1-800-72TOXIC (1-800-728-6942)
• DTSC Universal Waste Page
• DTSC Managing Hazardous Waste Page