Cars to be recycled must have any mercury switches removed before they are melted, under new rules. (Photo by paytonc @ Flickr. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License)
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says a new rule for steel
manufacturers could prevent the release of about five tons of mercury into
the air each year. Tracy Samilton reports:
Transcript
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says a new rule for steel
manufacturers could prevent the release of about five tons of mercury into
the air each year. Tracy Samilton reports:
Mercury switches are no longer made, but 35 million remain in older vehicles. Rick Otis with the U.S. EPA
says those vehicles will all be crushed and recycled by steel furnaces in about ten years, and that creates a
sense of urgency:
“Otherwise that mercury is going to be disseminated into the environment.”
Steelmakers agreed last year to voluntarily contract only with dismantlers who remove the switches. The
new rule makes it mandatory. But it could be tough to achieve the goal of an 80% recovery rate. Many auto
dismantlers operate on a shoe-string, with little money to train workers to remove the switches. Auto and
steelmakers have kicked in some money to pay dismantlers for each switch recovered. But environmental
groups say it’s not nearly enough.
For the Environment Report, I’m Tracy Samilton.