CHAPTER 6
Steps to Reduce Mercury Sources and Risks

Regulatory Positions and Actions Regarding Mercury Sources and Risks

As has been discussed throughout this report, mercury compounds exhibit several characteristics that make them of great concern to MADEP, MADPH as well as other state environmental and public health agencies across the country. These include:

1. significant potential toxicity, especially towards fetuses;

2. persistence in the environment once released; and,

3. the ability of organic mercury to bioconcentrate into living organisms, most notably fish.

As discussed earlier, these traits have led to significant adverse environmental impacts by mercury, especially on freshwater ecosystems.

Because of these characteristics, MADEP, as well as other local, state and national regulatory agencies, have initiated a number of efforts to reduce sources of mercury; to control mercury releases into the general environment; and to minimize risks attributable to mercury already in the environment. In order to reduce potential mercury impacts MADEP, EOEA and other State Agencies are taking the following specific actions in the areas of source reduction; emission controls and risk reduction:

• Source Reduction.
  In keeping with the Department's pollution prevention philosophy, MADEP is focusing its efforts on those areas where controllable sources of this metal exist, through both reduced use of mercury and collection and recycling of products containing mercury, including batteries and fluorescent lights. Efforts to prevent mercury pollution will reduce environmental contamination in the future and thus reduce risks to people and wildlife. Elimination or reduction of mercury and other toxins in products promotes their safe recycling and reuse and decreases the need for disposal of hazardous wastes. Specific actions by MADEP and EOEA to reduce mercury sources include:

  1. Adoption of a Battery Collection and Recycling policy. This policy streamlines and simplifies regulations that have hindered the collection and recycling of these products, allowing for batteries that test as hazardous waste to be more easily collected and recycled. Collection of mercury containing fluorescent lights has also been encouraged, and in excess of 15% of these are now being recycled in MA

  2. MADEP and EOEA have actively supported legislation to ban the sale of many mercury-added batteries in MA and to require that manufacturers provide for the collection and recycling of mercury containing button cell batteries. Recently passed national legislation has now banned the sale of many mercury-added batteries. Some button cell batteries will, however, continue to use mercury as it is currently needed for them to function properly. Thus, MADEP and EOEA continue to support state legislation to require the collection and recycling of button cells. Additionally, to verify compliance with the new federal sales bans, MADEP will institute a compliance and enforcement program to spot check market place batteries for their mercury content.

  3. EOEA and MADEP are in the process of obtaining state authorization for USEPA's Universal Waste Rule, which streamlines regulatory requirements for common hazardous wastes, facilitating increased collection of those materials. This Rule, which was finalized in April, 1995, applies to mercury containing batteries and thermostats and could be extended to other materials containing mercury under state authorization. MADEP expects to obtain authorization from USEPA by the end of this year.

  4. The Administration, including MADEP and EOEA, has expanded its efforts on the management of solid waste, targeting a variety of hazardous materials, including mercury containing products from households and small businesses, for collection prior to disposal to landfills or combustion facilities. These efforts include the development of informational materials to assist municipalities, small businesses and citizens in recycling mercury containing batteries and lights. The new MA Plan for Managing Hazardous Materials From Households and Small Businesses, lays out a statewide strategy to minimize mercury and other forms of hazardous chemicals in solid waste.

• Emission Controls.
  Although most important, source reduction efforts will not eliminate mercury emissions. Thus, efficient end-of-pipe pollution control will still be needed. Steps the Department is taking to ensure that appropriate, effective pollution controls are in place include the following.

  1. MADEP is implementing the new Federal emission control requirements on MSWCs. These important new requirements will reduce mercury emissions by up to 85% or more when in place. As it is national in scope, this regulation will reduce both mercury emissions here in MA as well as emissions in other States that may impact MA and the Northeast.

  2. Mercury and other heavy metals have been targeted by MADEP and EOEA as focal points for their Innovative Technology development and support efforts. Technologies of interest include better emission control and monitoring devices. An innovative technology currently supported by MADEP is designed to remove heavy metals, including mercury, from contaminated waste water. This technology, by SolmeteX, Inc. of Walpole, MA is now being evaluated for its effectiveness in removing mercury from hospital wastewater.

  3. MADEP will continue to be actively involved in developing regional and national policies intended to reduce the interstate transport of mercury. In particular, MADEP is working to make sure that federal efforts to restructure the electric utility industry include requirements for effective controls on the emissions of mercury and other pollutants from utilities that could adversely effect the Northeast.

• Risk Reduction.
  Even if all mercury emissions were to be completely eliminated today, significant potential risks due to contamination of fish would remain well into the future. This is because, as discussed above, the mercury already in the environment will recirculate and remain bioavailable for many years. In order to reduce risks MADEP, EOEA, and MADPH is taking the following steps.
  1. Continued environmental monitoring to identify waterbodies where fish contain unsafe levels of mercury and announcements of fish consumption advisories as appropriate.

  2. Public outreach efforts, such as this report, to inform the public about the potential risks of mercury .

  3. Research into mercury sources and risks. This includes completion of a study on the distribution and determinants of mercury in freshwater fish to better understand and predict potential areas of risk; collaboration with NESCAUM and other regional organizations to investigate mercury transport and deposition in the northeast; and scientific evaluations of new toxicological information on mercury to assess the adequacy of current regulatory standards.

Steps We Can All Take to Reduce Mercury Pollution

In addition to these regulatory actions there is much that individual citizens can do to reduce mercury pollution. As noted above much mercury enters the environment from the disposal of everyday household products. Consumers can significantly reduce such mercury pollution by buying mercury free batteries and recycling batteries, such as many button cells, that continue to contain mercury. For older household batteries, all button cell batteries and all imported batteries it is best to assume that they have mercury unless stated otherwise and to recycle them. Fluorescent and other high intensity light fixtures also contain mercury and should be recycled when possible. Information on how to recycle these products can be found in two MADEP consumer information publications entitled Mercury in Household Batteries and Mercury in Fluorescent Lights, which are available at no cost from the MADEP InfoLine. To request one or both, call (617) 338-2255 or, toll-free from outside of the 617 area, 1-800-462-0444.

Many other household products may also contain substantial amounts of mercury. In particular, older thermostats, thermometers, paints and some pesticides are likely to have significant mercury in them. These should be disposed of through your community's household hazardous waste collection program rather than into the trash.

There also some simple steps we can all take as individuals to minimize potential risks from mercury. Should products containing mercury (such as a thermometer) break it is important to carefully cleanup any spilled mercury (the silvery, liquid metal) and get the material and broken product out of the house. This should be done by scooping up the mercury droplets, which look like round spheres of silver liquid, gently into a container or vial using, for example, a cupped piece of paper as a scoop. The mercury should not be vacuumed! Vacuuming will break up the mercury into small particles and spew it into the air - even high efficiency vacuums cannot prevent the mercury from getting into the air. If you accidentally vacuum up mercury, immediately dispose of the vacuum bag.

If you like to fish (and lucky or skillful enough to actually catch some!) you can minimize your exposure to mercury by not eating fish from posted lakes and ponds in MA or other states. As noted earlier, if you are pregnant or thinking of getting pregnant in the near future the MADPH recommends that you not eat freshwater fish from MA lakes, ponds and streams. The USFDA also recommends that pregnant women and those why may become pregnant limit eating swordfish and shark to no more than one meal a month, because of the possibility that they may contain elevated levels of mercury. In general exposures to mercury can be further reduced by not eating large predatory fish, such as big bass or pike, which are the one's most likely to have bioaccumulated mercury. So called put-and-take fishing for stocked trout is also a safe way to catch a good fish meal as the trout stocked by the MA Division of Fish and Game do not contain unsafe levels of mercury.

Conclusion

By taking some simple steps, we can all help to minimize mercury pollution and the risks to human health that such pollution causes. Together, state, national and individual efforts are needed to address this problem. Although many steps are being taken which will ultimately reduce the health risks posed by mercury, it is important to note that these efforts are unlikely to lead to immediate reductions of mercury concentrations in specific environments (e.g., lakes). In particular, concentrations of mercury in freshwater fish may not be reduced quickly. The persistence of mercury once released into the biosphere means that continued recirculation of mercury already emitted will occur for many years. This recirculation, combined with continuing inputs from natural sources, means that even successful efforts to control human-derived mercury releases may not result in detectable, short-term reductions in the concentrations of this metal in areas already affected. Discernible reductions may require many years to become evident and thus will require patience and perseverance.

Where to Next:

• Chapter 5
• Appendix A
• Table of Contents
• Mercury Publications Page
• MA DEP Home Page