We only have one shot at having a clean environment. Let’s use new technology to improve the future of our globe by recycling our dated mercury-based thermostats, thermometers, fluorescent lights, and much more. It’s not just the right thing to do, but it is our duty to the future of our planet.
Mercury has become a contaminant of great concern. Mercury is found in the air, waterways, lakes, and the ocean. It is released into the air by the combustion of coal for electricity, and may be transported from the air to soil and water by rain. The mercury in urban storm water sediment results in part from improperly discarded fluorescent lights, electrical switches, thermometers, other mercury-containing devices, and historical and ongoing industrial activities. Methyl mercury is more hazardous to humans and other animals than elemental mercury. We do not know all the sources of methyl mercury, but evidence suggests that methyl mercury escapes landfills into the air. It is suspected that this is primarily due to chemical modification by bacteria which converts elemental mercury disposed in landfills to methyl mercury.
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