Substance Flow Analysis of Mercury Intentionally Used in Products in the United States

Abstract

Mercury‐containing products release mercury (Hg) throughout their lifecycles, frequently in ways that are difficult to measure directly. Therefore, there are considerable uncertainties about the magnitude of mercury releases associated with products, about which products and which release pathways contribute the most to mercury releases, and about the likely impact on mercury releases of various possible interventions in the mercury content of products or in the management of mercury‐containing wastes. This article presents an effort to use substance flow analysis to develop improved estimates of the environmental releases caused by mercury‐containing products and to provide policy‐makers with a better understanding of opportunities for reducing releases of mercury caused by products.

Estimated Quantities and Trends of Cadmium, Lead, and Mercury in US Municipal Solid Waste Based on Analysis of Incinerator Ash

“…The decline in mercury concentration is consistent with a decrease in the overall quantity of mercury used in the USA as discussed in recent reports (Brooks 2006;Cain et al 2007). There is no trend in lead concentrations evident at either facility.…”

Mercury policy in the Great Lakes states: past successes and future opportunities

“…A range of estimates is shown, with lower cost estimates for waste management approaches based on the assumption that eventually all of the mercury contained in mercury-containing products would be emitted to the atmosphere if they were disposed of improperly, and that all of these emissions can be prevented by proper management of disposal. The higher cost estimates assume that only a fraction of the improperlydisposed mercury would have been emitted to the atmosphere, with the fraction reduced through proper management calculated using the mercury flow model described by Cain et al (2007). In a cost-benefit analysis, most of the reduction approaches in Table 2 could be classified as either cost-effective or cost-ineffective, depending on whether the high or low cost estimates are used and which estimates of reduction benefit are utilized.…”

“…In the Great Lakes region, control of direct a Low cost estimates assume that collection of Hg in waste management program prevents emissions of 100% of the collected Hg. High cost estimates use the mercury product flow model in Cain et al (2007) to estimate the difference between Hg emissions when wastes are properly managed and when they are improperly managed water discharges and of the air emissions sources with the largest local impact has meant that increasingly, Hg deposition to the Great Lakes states originates in emissions outside of the region (U.S. EPA 2010a). Moreover, while reducing the remaining releases of Hg within the Great Lakes states will have some impact on Hg deposition to the Great Lakes states, much of the benefit of these reductions will occur outside of the Great Lakes states, through small, perhaps imperceptible, reductions in global Hg deposition.…”

“…In some cases these efforts were motivated by concerns about direct inhalation exposures caused by these products. In other cases efforts were motivated by the significant contribution that Hg-containing product usage, breakage and disposal contribute to environmental Hg emissions (Cain et al 2007). In many cases, actions by individual states or cities have helped trigger nationwide action.…”

Mercury risk from fluorescent lamps in China: Current status and future perspective

“…Depending on the types of lamps and their manufacturers, mercury in the quantities of milligrams to tens of milligrams is added. Fluorescent lamps typically last for over 6000 h, but are eventually burned-out once not enough mercury is left in the vapor form to contribute to the illumination process (Cain et al, 2007;Dunmire et al, 2003). In spent fluorescent lamps, mercury is predominately bound to the glass, the phosphor and the metal end parts, with only a small fraction remains in vapor form at room temperature.…”