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Mecury Collection Grows
The Thermostat Recycling Corporation (TRC) has announced that it has recovered
over 1,060 pounds of mercury from nearly 123,000 used mercury-switch thermostats
since it began operation in January 1998. The TRC collected over 48,000 thermostats
and processed over 400 pounds of mercury in 2001. This represents a 52 percent
increase in thermostats and a 57 percent increase in mercury collected during
2000.
The TRC began operations in nine states, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa,
Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, and Wisconsin, and expanded its operations
in January 2000 to the District of Columbia and thirteen additional states.
In the spring of 2001 the TRC began operating in the remaining lower 48 states.
Collections continued to grow in the original nine states and started in some
of the remaining states. The number of thermostats collected has tripled between
1998 and 2001.
TRC is a private corporation established by thermostat manufacturers Honeywell,
General Electric, and White Rodgers. Under this voluntary, industry-sponsored
program, heating, ventilation and cooling contractors can drop off used mercury-switch
thermostats-no matter what brand-at participating wholesalers. Wholesalers collect
the thermostats in protective bins supplied by TRC. As of July 1, 2001, there
are roughly 1,200 TRC containers in HVAC wholesale stores across the United
States. A list of participating wholesalers as of January 1, 2002, can be accessed
at www.nema.org/trc.
When the bins are full, wholesalers send them to the TRC's recycling center
where the TRC removes the switches and forwards them to a mercury recycler.
TRC focuses on heating and air-conditioning contractors and wholesalers because
they sell and install the majority of thermostats and because the industry already
has the infrastructure to support an effective collection program. Some local
governments have separate programs in place to manage recycling or disposal
of used thermostats directly from homeowners. Homeowners can contact their local
hazardous waste management office for more information.
For more information about the program, contact Ric Erdheim, at (703) 841-3249
or ric_Erdheim@nema.org.
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