Texas Participates In Mercury Switch Buy Back Program
The Auto Recyclers of Texas have joined forces with the United States Environmental Protection Agency in order to reduce the amount of Mercury that enters the environment here in the state of Texas. It may surprise many people to realize that up until 2003, Mercury was used routinely in the manufacturing of automobiles. Although the amount of mercury that is actually contained with a single vehicle is quite small, when that amount is multiplied with the amount of cars on the road in Texas alone, it adds up quite quickly.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has joined forces with other environmental programs to assist the auto recyclers in Texas with implementing the mercury switch recovery program.
Mercury convenience switches were included in vehicles in the United States until the Environmental Protection Agency mandated that they be phased out by 2003. Most commonly, these switches could be found in the light switches for trunks, hoods and other convenience lights in cars.
Up until the buyback program was begun, mercury switches were not routinely removed from vehicles before they were shredded or crushed for recycling. When this recycled steel was then transferred to recycling facilities where the steel was melted, the mercury they contained was then emitted back into the atmosphere in the air from these furnaces.
The Environmental Protection Agency issued new air emission standards that call for a reduction in the amount of mercury released by steel manufacturers that use electric arc furnaces. These facilities are now required by law to ensure that the auto recyclers from which they buy auto recycled steel must ensure that these recyclers are participating members of the mercury switch recovery system.
The beauty of the program is that in order to encourage auto recyclers to participate, it ensures that they will not have to absorb any of the costs associated with removal, storage or transportation of the mercury switches. Upon request, any certified auto recycler will receive collections buckets, instructions from the auto manufacturer on locating the mercury switches and instructions on how to return the bucket once it has been filled. Another program great program that is assisting with this is End of Life Vehicle Solutions. Working in cooperation with the Environmental Protection Agency, End of Life Vehicle Solutions will pay for the bucket containing the mercury switches to a processing center where they can be safely disposed. Any auto recycler that is not already an active participant is encouraged to call End of Vehicle Life Solutions at 1-877-225-ELVS.
Not only is this an easy and cost fee solution that encourages the removal of these dangerous mercury switches, the Environmental Protection Agency has made it profitable for auto recyclers to do so. Facilities that participate in this program will be reimbursed financially for each mercury switch that is recovered and sent in.
This program had been so successful that it had recovered its one-millionth switch as of February 2008. That represents more than one ton of mercury that has been kept out of the environment.
