What Happens Next to Mercury Products

After undergoing an extensive recycling process, plastics or other materials, mercury will not lose any of its inherent qualities, despite the recycling process. This is also due to the fact that mercury is an element and cannot be broken down into any other form or substance.

Since reclaimed mercury is essentially the same as new materials, manufacturers generally reuse mercury for the same purposes and products. This “closes the loop” in the recycling process, utilizing a resource that has already been taken from the environment. However, this trend does not apply to all mercury products, such as thermostats, where digital units continue to replace older models that utilize mercury.

An important factor in mercury recycling is its impact on demand for new, virgin resources mined from the earth. As companies are compelled to remove mercury from their products (or lessen the amount needed), and current supplies of mercury are properly reused, countries have begun to collect surplus supplies of elemental mercury. According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), “large reserve stocks of mercury held by various governments have become superfluous, and are subject to future sales on the world market if approved by the relevant national authorities. This is the case in the USA…”

In fact, the U.S. currently holds a stockpile of four, 436 ton supplies of mercury, with supplies being such that mercury has not been mined domestically as a primary commodity since 1992. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, “the declining consumption of mercury…indicates that these [world] resources are sufficient for another century or more of use.” As replacement of mercury by other, less toxic, substances continues, demand for mercury will continue to decline.

To find out where you can recycle mercury products in your area, use Earth911.